David Simon on Writing in the Internet Age

Interesting point of view from the creator of The Wire. A view I'm guessing most will agree with.

http://davidsimon.com/introduction2/

 

It's definitely nice to read a firm and coherent defense of copyright protection for writers and artists (whatever you think of the industry models that used to employ them, which I agree are highly flawed). I agree with most of it, though it's another one of those arguments that's about 15 years too late to be meaningful.

 

Simon on Simmons:

http://davidsimon.com/i-meant-this/

My take is of course the ESPN suits were not going to let him ask this question, but I get Simon's view that it is the giant elephant in the room.

 

I'm glad Simon wrote that. I agree with a lot of it.

These lines are thoughtful:

<i>Who is going to focus real, prolonged attention on any of the big, dry, disturbing stuff when every day, we can play with the farts and foibles of celebrity and near-celebrity. The last twenty years has seen a great divestment in journalists who once covered issues – well-trained and committed men and women who might have, say, spent careers charting trends in criminal law and their effect, or who might be writing critical pieces about the rates of incarceration and what they’ve done to urban America. The bodies that once did such things – or at least harbored ambitions in that direction — now don’t see the actual street. Instead, they go to cubicles and snatch pieces of celebrity froth and mock outrage off one website, add a fresh witticism and repost. Then they fire off another 140 characters or so alerting you to the fact that they’ve reposted. There’s a real future in that, apparently. Some even call it journalism.

Arguments about the taste of the bread or the look of the circuses go on forever, because, hey, Omar is cool and Bunk is funny as hell and isn’t it great when Clay Davis says the word shit. Yes, it is nice to know that people were entertained. It’s not that anyone begrudges an audience its pleasure; we wrote the cool stuff and the funny stuff and we enjoyed it, too. But four years after The Wire is off the air, are we wrong for admitting aloud to other hopes and purposes for the finished work?</i>