It didn’t matter that every major U.S. electronics company assembles its products under the same working conditions — or worse. Or that Apple was actually doing something about them. (Tim Cook called the Times’ implication that Apple didn’t care what happened to its subcontractors’ workers “patently false and offensive.“)
The fact is, the New York Times knows how to win Pulitzers — better than any other journalistic operation. It has now won a record 112. It employs editors who specialize in identifying Pulitzer-winning topics and assigning reporters who will bring them home.
And that’s what it set out to do — with Apple as its conspicuous subject — in seven major stories capped with a self-serving kicker that suggested that it was Times’ reporting that led to substantive changes in the working conditions in China’s electronics factories:
I guess winning is a higher priority than being correct.
Hi, I'm Weiran Zhang. I work as a Senior Engineering Manager at Capital One. I have a passion for technology and building thriving software teams. This blog is where I write about things I find interesting. You can follow me on Mastodon.