Simon: City Journalism Already Dead in Baltimore

"The Wire" creator David Simon weighed in on the demise of newspapers in this Sunday's Washington Post. He argues that the Baltimore Sun gave a one-over treatment to a police-involved shooting that would have been a much bigger deal back in the day when reporters actually put shoe-to-pavement to report on local crime. Furthermore, Simon said he "didn't trip over any blogger[s]" or citizen journalists on the way to the police department to check out the story.

City dailies would do well to take notice of The Wire's popularity with 20- and 30-somethings. The future currency of local papers will be purely local reporting. If papers made more of an effort to flesh out local crime stories, local police departments, and the city's underworld figures, it could help attract younger readers (and may produce some nostalgia for the print product).