3 ms·

David Simon: Very good at making television, not so great at coming up with business plans for newspapers. Seriously, if this idea were being proposed by anyon

David Simon: Very good at making television, not so great at coming up with business plans for newspapers. Seriously, if this idea were being proposed by anyone who didn't make 'The Wire,' I find it hard to imagine that Hacker News would find it worth our attention.

_pius 18y ago
Seriously, if this idea were being proposed by anyone who didn't make 'The Wire,' I find it hard to imagine that Hacker News would find it worth our attention. Yeah, but it was proposed by the creator of "The Wire," so here we are. :) David Simon was waaaaay out in front of this issue. Way back in 2006 he chose the demise of the newspaper industry as the theme of the final season of The Wire and covered it critically before the whole "Newspapers Are About to Die" meme was getting any traction outside journalism trade circles. That's not to say he's got all the answers, but the guy's certainly been thinking about the problem for quite some time and it's interesting to hear his perspective.
- gyeh 18y ago
  The "Newspapers Are About to Die" message has been repeated over and over again since the mid 90's. Because of the recent high-profile closings/cost-cuttings of newspaper organizations, the last 15 years of gloomy prognostications have essentially become reality (mainly precipitated by the current economy). Similar to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and global warming, these are train-wrecks that can be seen miles and miles way. Unfortunately for newspapers, it seems they are in the middle of one.
  - eli 18y ago
    Yes, newspaper readership has been declining for some time, but ad revenues didn't really start to tank until the past few years (http://www.npr.org/blogs/globalpoolofmoney/images/2009/04/papers_big.png http://www.npr.org/blogs/globalpoolofmoney/images/2009/04/pa...)

3 ms·

David Simon: Very good at making television, not so great at coming up with business plans for newspapers. Seriously, if this idea were being proposed by anyon

by gabrielroth 18y ago

_pius 18y ago
Seriously, if this idea were being proposed by anyone who didn't make 'The Wire,' I find it hard to imagine that Hacker News would find it worth our attention. Yeah, but it was proposed by the creator of "The Wire," so here we are. :) David Simon was waaaaay out in front of this issue. Way back in 2006 he chose the demise of the newspaper industry as the theme of the final season of The Wire and covered it critically before the whole "Newspapers Are About to Die" meme was getting any traction outside journalism trade circles. That's not to say he's got all the answers, but the guy's certainly been thinking about the problem for quite some time and it's interesting to hear his perspective.
- gyeh 18y ago
  The "Newspapers Are About to Die" message has been repeated over and over again since the mid 90's. Because of the recent high-profile closings/cost-cuttings of newspaper organizations, the last 15 years of gloomy prognostications have essentially become reality (mainly precipitated by the current economy). Similar to Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and global warming, these are train-wrecks that can be seen miles and miles way. Unfortunately for newspapers, it seems they are in the middle of one.
  - eli 18y ago
    Yes, newspaper readership has been declining for some time, but ad revenues didn't really start to tank until the past few years (http://www.npr.org/blogs/globalpoolofmoney/images/2009/04/papers_big.png http://www.npr.org/blogs/globalpoolofmoney/images/2009/04/pa...)