The Wire - It's a Bad Time for Newspapers

Executive Editor Whiting delivers to his reporters the news of major budgetary cuts. (Season 5, Episode 3 "Not for Attribution)

[@HuffdrewPaint]

"If we're lucky it'll just get rid of the dead wood." -the dead wood

[@OcelotDAD]

best Gus quote IMO is "The pond is shrinking, the fish are getting nervous"

[@JoshD1001]

OcelotDAD That one really hit home. And he said something else like “Me, I’m just too damn stupid for that” about what Templeton did?

[@jamesdan6895]

The Wire was so good, that Gus was like the 30th best character, and yet an entire show based around him alone would have been fantastic too. No show will ever have that many good characters again.

[@walt8899]

Facts!!!

[@brandonb3174]

The writers were key in that being the case

[@stargell777]

"How come there are cuts in the newsroom when the company is still profitable?" That's how it played out at the big chains.

[@jermainerace4156]

Just being "profitable" is irrelevant, what is more important is "does the profit margin from this business justify its continuation, compared with what we can get with a different business model".

[@brettbewley5798]

@@jermainerace4156 exactly. Fuck people.

[@DelaneWazHere]

I left a major publisher over 12 months ago. Found out two weeks ago my entire team which turned around well over 5 million in advertising annually got purged under the guise of COVID; same sentiments mirrored in this speech of a declining print market. It's all bullshit. 'Give a man an inch and he'll take a mile' perfectly sums it up; doesn't matter what you bring to the table.

[@DiverDrive428]

It's not profitable enough

[@aresef]

And how it still plays out at Tribune papers today and even moreso at papers owned by Alden Global Capital.

[@StainsStainsStains]

“It’s a bad time for newspapers” And it never got better.

[@100spurs]

Season 5 is so relevant in this day of age.

[@geordiejones5618]

I never understood the online hate for season 5. The plot isn't any more ridiculous than Hamsterdam. I wish Gus had been introduced way earlier like in season 3. He was one of the best characters on the show.

[@reddavis4808]

Very relevant and its become a lot more now due to Covid19.

[@marcosmarti88]

Right!!

[@flightofthebumblebee9529]

@@geordiejones5618 Hamsterdam was a brief suspension of disbelief but it was not at all far fetched. I seen places in North Philly that were totally open air drug (heroin) markets with no cops. Anywhere.

[@tanveerhasan2382]

@@geordiejones5618 I concur

[@jaredwatt8769]

Always love how the higher ups say "any questions ?", then seem annoyed that anyone asked a question

[@reecardoughful]

I recently lost my job because the print publication I worked in got bought out. The same editor working for new owners offered me the exact same job, only with half the pay I used to have and a larger workload. "More with less" they kept saying. F*ck them.

[@kennethhudgins1369]

I got furloughed for 3 months during mid 2020. Fresh out of college 3 months into my first career job thinking I was hot shit. One day I get added to a teams meeting with a few hundred other people & we are told we are all getting furloughed for 3 months with the potential to maybe be brought back on after that time was over. I was lucky enough to get a letter in the mail saying they wanted me back, but a lot of people didn't get those letters. Whole experience was a wake up call. Taught me to never get too comfortable, always have a few months of savings tucked away, and to always remember to make my self indispensable.

[@brandonb3174]

Damn man, what job industry were you in?

[@kennethhudgins1369]

@@brandonb3174 The IT department of a shipping company. Back then right as covid panic peaked mid 2020 people went out and bought a ton of supplies/groceries and didn't really spend their disposable income for a few months. Our company got less transport orders for awhile from both major distributors and restaurant chains and they didn't have the cash on hand to keep everyone. I didn't take the furlough personally. Spent 3 months on unemployment and thanked God when I got my letter in the mail saying things had picked back up and they were ready to bring some people back.

[@brandonb3174]

@@kennethhudgins1369 it’s scary when it be taken away like that, and to think it’s somebody’s job to tell the employees they’ve been furloughed.

[@geznicks]

I guess this is when "Tom" decided to get into chemistry

[@mbedj1974]

He first changed his name to Daniel Hardman and became a lawyer

[@LJGreni]

@@mbedj1974 Then went into finance with Bobby Axlerod.

[@kapnerad]

"We are, quite simply....fucked." That was 11 years ago. If anything, it's gotten worse.

[@jonathanhalloran5350]

Newspapers needed a new business strategy. But instead of going for greater and greater integrity they went for more and more sensationalism. Now they are doomed.

[@gaborbanko4037]

yeah, because integrity sells, sure.

[@811chelseafc]

Gábor Bankó innovation sells.

[@elliotmyers625]

That's an easy jab at an industry that people like to beat up on. You should blame a lazy, anti-intellectual public that would rather watch the Kardashians than read something substantive.

[@goodyeoman4534]

@@elliotmyers625 perhaps its both. one feeds the other.

[@elliotmyers625]

@@goodyeoman4534 The truth is that it comes from internet and cable news. When the media pie was cut into so many pieces, companies had to start worrying about ad revenue. As a result, they responded more and more to their audience. That audience wanted more yelling, more drama, and less thought. The reason I blame the audience is that there is thoughtful, intelligent reporting out there. Almost no one watches or reads it. You can't make people eat their vegetables if they only want to eat donuts and french fries.

[@gnolan4281]

I had forgotten that David Costable, the guy who played Tom "with the specifics" also played Gale Boetticher the nerd chemist in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

[@Freewarrior2]

And the banker on The Office

[@gnolan4281]

@@Freewarrior2 Yikes, I never saw that show. i've been told it's worth watching.

[@Freewarrior2]

@@gnolan4281 one of the great comedies of all time. You're not alone. I watched The Office for the first time in 2018. He's the third actor from The Wire that was on The Office I think.

[@okyggtty]

He's also Daniel Hardman from Suits

[@joemckim1183]

As bad of a time as it was for newspapers back when this episode aired I can only imagine that it's only worse now. Once the older generation dies away there'll be less and less people who buy the newspaper. I only read the newspaper if I go over to the folks house or eat at Burger King.

[@TradingKid1998]

Very true. My sister studies journalism and she told me how old school journalists and unpaid interns would have read 3200 pages of Wikileaks within 2 weeks. Today unpaid interns are too lazy to read anything beyond twitter, and they will read 200 pages of Wikileaks only if they get paid, not realizing that the 3200 pages would have been a perfect career opportunity which dozens of young journalists missed in 2016.

[@purplegill10]

@@TradingKid1998 Keep in mind there's VERY rose tinted glasses when you look at that kind of stuff. Student loans have made it so kids coming out of college need to find jobs asap or else they risk loans they'll practically never get to pay off. If you aren't being paid then you're screwed no matter how good your intentions are.

[@nathanielcooke463]

waaaaahhh why aren't my unpaid workers doing enough to earn their weekly nothing

[@charleskaplan3567]

@JoeMcKim why don't you read long form news? Don't you want to know what is going on and how it connects to you?

[@phunkyphresh3799]

@@TradingKid1998 Aw gee I won’t pay my workers a dime but they should be providing me more revenue! So lazy, these asshole interns finally learned what negotiating for yourself is. Just because news companies are too incompetent to pay people for value creating work doesn’t mean someone should pick a bad deal. I’d be wary of someone wastes their time on unpaid internships. Makes them seem like they’d make suspect choices

[@knightsonofjack]

"Why are there cuts in the newsroom when the company is still profitable?" This is becoming true in every industry in this neoliberal hellscape we exist in.

[@antdogg422]

alma is larry gillard's (d'angelo barksdale) wife!

[@basti2955]

magesticmaniacc The Journalist working next to Scott, she interviewed Mcnulty once

[@duanedoty6798]

FYI: “Guild” is a fancy writers word for “union”

[@rondempesmeier1845]

It serves the same function in this case, but guilds were originally for merchants and craftsmen to band together for common interests. In Medieval times, you would have guilds for stone masons, jewelers, doctors, or for importers for example. It is more suited for non-hourly professionals instead of trade unions. The Screenwriters' Guild and the Directors' Guild are two of the more famous examples today.

[@duanedoty6798]

That’s an interesting bit of history, it’s good to know the distinction between the two since they are so similar

[@brendonbugattilewis6713]

yeah thats me in the back on set. Miss this show

[@championdesigns]

You know, I THOUGHT that was you!

[@saaimhaider8703]

Favorite character in the entire show, wish they did more with your char.

[@AJBfc]

Are buy-outs like separation pay?

[@bklynbroker]

@Willem DaFuckedUp bull

[@TheWaveofbabies]

@Willem DaFuckedUp Reagan is in the GOP Pantheon, right next to Lincoln and Washington. It show's no appreciation for their own nation's history.

[@b4rn35y]

this makes me sad having graduated in journalism

[@obiwon76]

One thing I noticed about this scene is during the speech amazingly none of the phones rang....

[@seanlamar29]

Yes they were

[@championdesigns]

Same when Jerry McGuire gave his office speech

[@championdesigns]

@ No, YOU listen: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIu9emljr81jfa8

[@Antrizzle2009]

Yea I was shocked when I heard about that. Never would have made that match with D and Alma.

[@rickyray2794]

Gat-DAMN that redhead

[@kid9486]

Kara Quick 👍

[@0412lennon]

I know right she looks just like Jessica Chastain

[@hyethga]

I rewatched The Wire two years and remember visiting the Baltimore Sun website after finishing this season and it was as pathetic as you could imagine it. This was 15 years after the series had wrapped up but you could see that budget cuts had eaten away into every section except crime news and local sports. Really makes you think if things were this bad in 2006/07, how this scene would be playing out in the midst of Twitter and alternative news sites like Buzzfeed or Vice (which are now also teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and irrelevance).

[@mikebud12]

yea not bad for David Costabile who plays gale, in the two greatest shows ever, breaking bad and the wire.

[@kotarojujo2737]

He working with both Gus

[@zigzacpaddywhack4212]

“Something’s up” the closest Scott ever got to real investigative journalism

[@bigpete1287]

2:15 "More with less" Employers putting a two person job on one employee nowadays.

[@Trolldroppin]

Is that Gail from Breaking bad?

[@joemckim1183]

Yes, but its also Daniel Hardman from Suits.

[@mrbond9882]

I completely forgot about the newspaper thing in the wire!!!!! Time to rewatch the whole series

[@MrSnappyJones]

I just want to know who the redhead is at 0:19...

[@ajbahus]

Right?? Goddamn...

[@socallawrence]

ajbahus bwahahaha !!! Well done

[@Zambicus]

Kara Lee Duncan

[@100spurs]

Zambicus Hero

[@0412lennon]

She looks so much like Jessica chastain it’s uncanny and delicious

[@hlysnan6418]

(Lifts lid from tray) “Heeere’s your Message!”

[@Fakename70]

COBRA “benefits”. 😒

[@Inconvenientx]

Answering specific questions with general platitudes: so corporate. I'm sure it's just a management fad, like the jargon that goes in and out of fashion. It's now used when there's really no reason for it. I don't think it helps management actually. People just lose confidence in managers who don't talk straight.

[@WrathofKhanII]

One of them married D'Angelo Barksdale...

[@obiwon76]

Almo the lady reporter.

[@terrencemilton5088]

This season here explains it all!

[@mikem591]

The insights of the show about the media where ahead of its time, showing the decline of quality investigative journalism with sensationalism. I wasn’t impressed initially with the Press part of Season 5, but it was actually accurate of the trends that were coming. I thought Gus was a little one-dimensional. Though I think the could have made him a little more complex character, he represented that old-school reporter with integrity and a consciousness, something that is missing in the modern press.

[@williambordenjr]

scene in a newsroom is all too real...

[@negbefla6956]

Bill Borden graduated from journalism school at the avent of the freefall...nevwr worked on day as a journalist after spending 4 years in j school

[@pantarei8382]

Never heard that word before

[@jrand7476]

I would have rather seen Clark Johnson play a detective

[@konstantinkoverchenko9587]

If he switched lines with Lester, neither actor would miss a beat.

[@volsdeep]

I now use the word tumescent. Thanks gus

[@RobTunes]

Yes, my friend- my partner is finishing an advanced degree in communications, and has taught me that a great number of people in journalism (and related comm fields) are facing hard times when trying to get a job in their field. The market's flooded, and demand for these jobs are shrinking. Not to rain on an already-rainy parade, but at least you're aware of the situation, so you can make a good decision about it. Good luck!

[@cyanrazorCel]

It's only gone downhill for papers from then...

[@strangebrew1231]

They should do an update and show social media affects journalists

[@ChrisStavros]

We didn't want to pay for news, so we forced the media to take money from the outside to peddle us shit instead.

[@Antrizzle2009]

I wouldn't say Scott is low skilled, he just has bigger aspirations than the Baltimore Sun. The conversation he has with Alma at the bar in episode 2 reveals this. He's just using the Sun as a stepping stone to get to the NY Times or some other big paper. In order to do that, you need to win pulitzers or write big stories, hence his motivation to fabricate the serial killer. No different than say a Stephen Glass. Guy is a glory hound.

[@ronniaiello3989]

And in the end , he wins the Pulitzer ! The phonies, cheats and careerists win out in the end and the dedicated, honest journalists, police and politicians get screwed ! Love the Wire

[@christianhuston897]

there's no evidence that he has any skills at all. He certainly doesn't show any skill in constructing his fabrications, which are transparent and amateur.

[@ThomasBahamas]

WWE Performance Center on June 1st, 2021

[@MB-rr1fb]

00:19 HELLO

[@honerdcouster8723]

Now I wipe my butt with the paper..

[@parkermudsen1063]

I know that sinking feeling all too well. 🙁

[@phillipdavila4860]

"The news-hole is shrinking" Where the eff did he go to journalism school?

[@robertdog]

0:20 Forgot about her

[@t.m.b83]

Did the writers have a time machine?

[@markangelou9368]

Wags moved onto bigger and better

[@KraigOliver]

MELDRICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK WHY YOUNO KNOW ME

[@007thday]

Why am I thinking about "Office Space" when I watch this scene?

[@just908blaze1]

An example of terrible leadership coming home to roost

[@kotarojujo2737]

So Gale Boetticer are working with Two Gus lol

[@MrCarlWAYNELEWIS]

Im in that scene

[@0412lennon]

Bruno Jimmy id kill to say that I was in the wire

[@honerdcouster8723]

Why not report the massive corruption and indifference of the political class. No can do. Ok no first amendment rights for you..

[@SD4philly]

one sad reality

[@celticjay2306]

Is that sledge hammer?

[@LesterBrunt]

One of these guys was infact a major Meth Cook.

[@viewmaster617]

and was killed by Jesse Pinkman

[@roeroe305]

COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION IN THE HOUSE GO GATORS WOOT WOOT!!!!

[@hamandeggs11]

Sheeeeeeeeeit.

[@kingtrawal]

I guess Chicago is Baltimore’s daddy

[@idclolidk]

It's fucking Gale

[@johnham4485]

When is CNN and FOX news going to make the same announcement?

[@MontyDatta]

LOOOOOOL

[@nunyabizness3866]

Lol today this newsroom would be like “how can we twist this news to elect more democrats?”

[@jsbmx2039]

Any one else fast forward though this boring ass story line?

[@Tforgiven12]

gail