Badger Blog Alliance

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Friday, March 13, 2009

You can actually learn a lot from TV aka how the TV show the Wire taught me about how Newspapers work

First if you did not see the HBO series "The Wire" while it was on you have a huge gaping hole in your life you should run out and fill right away. I mean go to Blockbuster if the one near you has not closed or start renting the seasons from Netflixs or just buy the whole damn series off of Itunes or Amazon.(I have all 5 season either on DVD or Itunes) One of the greatest tv series I have ever seen in my entire 40 years of living.(Yes I like the show a little)

But I digress, back to my original point Season 5 of the Wire is about a fake serial killer and how the local paper the Baltimore Sun covers the story. They show how the paper picks a topic to be its Pulitzer topic for the year and runs with it.

Why does this matter Chris you ask?

Because armed with this new knowledge I can now notice things like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has went over board this year and actually has two Pulitzer topics going. Their whole "Wasted in Wisconsin Series" and their never ending attack on bisphenol A hell todays Bisphenol was front page above the fold and written in the font that is usually reserved fro things like VJ day or a Space Shuttle blowing up. You do not notice this if you read the paper online like I do but I happened to see a hard copy version of the front page in the locker room at the club and noticed it.(My going back to the health club is doing wonders for my blogging isn't it lol)

I have no issue with them doing their Pulitzer topics it is what papers do(to be honest I have not read either series of stories)

I just found it interesting since I look at newspapers with a different eye since season 5 show how they make the sausage that is a newspaper to me.

Chris