我们一起来看看《纽约时报》（New York Times）的鸿篇巨制、共分为9个部分的“电子经济”（iEconomy）系列报道的具体内容：第一部分已于1月21日出刊，第九部分则会在12月27日，也就是周日面世。这个系列正好赶在2012普利策新闻奖电子版作品提交截止日期（12月25日）前全部出完。

    在熟悉业内规则的记者看来，这个系列从一开始就是瞄着普利策奖去的。

    计划很简单：先挑选出苹果公司（Apple）。美国有数千家将工作岗位输送到海外，其中，苹果公司是最高调最显眼的一个，可谓生物学家口中的“庞然大物”。然后，再顺带扯两句汽车和机器人，一组《纽约时报》的记者就开始将蒂姆•库克的公司条分缕析成以下几大部分：

    第一部分：美国丢掉iPhone生产岗位之谜

    第二部分：中国低廉的人力成本成就iPad

    第三部分：苹果合法偷逃数十亿美元税收的玄机

    第四部分：苹果零售终端：忠诚有余但付款不及时

    第七部分：所向披靡的专利之剑

    第八部分：应用程序开发者趋之若鹜，成功者屈指可数

    第九部分：中国代工工厂显现苹果改革曙光

    虽然苹果公司的竞争对手们几乎都在将工作岗位外包、合理避税、将专利视为搞垮对手的武器，甚至对亚洲供应链内的血汗工厂视而不见，但总能吸引公众眼球的苹果公司才是那个最大、最有钱、也最容易发现的靶子。

    但是对曾破纪录地荣获过108次“普利策新闻奖”的《纽约时报》来说，他们对于评选委员们心思的拿捏要比其他一众美国报纸都要到位，他们知道评委们想要看到的就是报道能够推动现实中的实质性的改革。这就是本系列第九部分《改革的曙光》所要展现的内容。我们一起来看看全篇的中心段：

    “3月……富士康（Foxconn）与苹果公司的高层之间有过一次重要的会议。富士康在会议中承诺将会实行广泛的改革。这家中国最大的私人工厂誓将大幅削减工人工作时间，同时提高工资。人力资源专家称，这样的改革若是能在明年得以全面实行的话，将会是数百万的电子产业从业工人的福音。”

    If you wondered where the New York Times' massive, 9-part iEconomy series was headed, here's a clue: Part 1 was published on Jan. 21, and Part 9 on Thursday, Dec. 27 -- just under the wire, we presume, for the Dec. 25 electronic submission deadline for the 2012 Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism.

    For reporters who know about these things, the series had Pulitzer written all over it from the start.

    The plan was simple: Single out Apple (AAPL) as what biologists might call a "conspicuous megafauna" -- the high-profile stand-in for thousands U.S. firms that have been shipping American jobs overseas. Then, with only a couple detours into automobiles and robots, a team of Times reporters set out to dissect Tim Cook's company one layer at a time:

    Part 1: How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

    Part 2: In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad

    Part 3: How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Global Taxes

    Part 4: Apple's Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

    Part 7: The Patent, Mighty as a Sword

    Part 8: As Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part Is Making a Living

    Part 9: Signs of Changes Taking Hold in Electronics Factories in China

    Never mind that Apple's competitors all outsource work, sidestep taxes, use patents as weapons and turn an even blinder eye to labor abuses in the Asian supply chain. The fact is, Apple -- always a draw for readers -- made a big, fat, easy target.

    But the Times, which has won a record 108 Pulitzers, knows better than any other American newspaper that what the prize committee wants to see is evidence that all this reporting has led to real, substantive reform. And that's what Part 9 -- "Signs of Changes" -- sets out to show. The nut graphs:

    In March... a critical meeting had occurred between Foxconn's top executives and a high-ranking Apple official. The companies had committed themselves to a series of wide-ranging reforms. Foxconn, China's largest private employer, pledged to sharply curtail workers' hours and significantly increase wages — reforms that, if fully carried out next year as planned, could create a ripple effect that benefits tens of millions of workers across the electronics industry, employment experts say...