Eye on "The Wire"

In Margaret Talbot's article, "Stealing Life," she speaks with David Simon, former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of the television show The Wire. If nothing else, this article proves that Simon is, and always will be, a reporter at heart.

For this entry, we are asked to find some examples of a reporter's way of thinking. This first example really shows the attention to detail that a reporter needs; what one person may overlook, Simon noticed and capitalized on:

"Some of the dialogue from the fifth season is taken word for word from the Sun’s newsroom. Simon recalled, 'There was this writer, Carl, who every day would eat the same thing for lunch: cottage cheese. One day, somebody walked by and saw him staring down into his cottage cheese, poking it with a spoon and saying to himself, "Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck." That’s in there.'"

This passage helps a potential career in a newsroom by always keeping your eyes peeled. An act as mundane as someone eating cottage cheese every day may delvelop into a story. If nothing else, it will become great material for a television show.

The next passage comes much later in the article.

"Rebecca Corbett, the former Sun editor, told me that Simon 'saw the cop beat as a whole window onto the sociology of the city, a way of examining the failings of government, a way to think about policy, especially drug policy, and a way of telling stories.'"

This shows the passion that Simon has. Truth be told, he is exactly right about a cop beat being a window to the sociology of the city.