Last night we watched the first episode of season 5 of The Wire, and it is already shaping up to be very interesting. This season is focusing heavily on the newsroom of The Baltimore Sun and how news is sorted and reported. The best quote so far is, “I wonder what it’s like to work for a real newspaper,” which is ironically the same thing said about the Baltimore Police Department in season 3.
All we know of the newsroom so far is that staff has been cut by the parent corporation in Chicago, and the older guys who can actually write (“you don’t want to say that people were evacuated”) are being pushed out in favor of young kids who see the Sun only as a stopping point on their way to The Times or The Post.
One thing I’ve noticed about The Wire is that it exposes the fact that every profession they’ve examined is made up of people that basically fit into the same categories. There are always people who only care about their stats, the people that are there to do the minimum to get the paycheck, the ones who are only interested in furthering their careers, and the ones who do the job because it is a part of who they are and only want to do their best work. So far this has held true for police, politicians, teachers, drug dealers, thieves, and sometimes drug addicts.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the newsroom.
I’m not so sure it is that black and white, for instance, I would not classify myself in any one of those categories, but a mixure of a couple of them, guess which ones.
You’re right…it’s not that black and white, but I can’t write well enough (or long enough) to delve into the intricacies.
I’d put you in a different category…
Shows up half drunk, leaves completely drunk.
No No No No… I don’t drink at work any more, I just get stoned, please try not to slander.