I have to laugh when I see the comments that Simon's portrayal of The Sun is not credible. I am a former Sun staffer who was hired by Marimow and Carroll. So far, every single newsroom situation is based on a real event that occurred during my time there. In scenes involving the top editors, most of the dialogue is taken practically verbatim from actual newsroom conversations.
I think these commenters have it mostly right. I had worked at a couple of fine newspapers before joining The Sun, and I knew that top editors usually have much higher regard for their own hires than for the existing staff. But Carroll and Marimow took it to extremes. They seemed to have a real blind spot. With just a few exceptions, they were unable to appreciate the abundant talents of the people who were there before they got there.
I joined the paper when CJR, E&P and others were beating the drum about the miraculous turnaround that Marimow and Carroll had pulled off at The Sun - in fact, I came to the paper because I wanted to be part of that. From Day One, it was obvious that some of their young hires were very talented, but most were in jobs that they were not experienced enough to handle. They got very little guidance from the then-metro editor, who mostly worked on whatever big series was in the prize-entry chute. A few of the newcomers were empty shirts, or worse.
The remaining members of the old guard were solid, smart reporters. Many of them could write rings around the new hires. But during my time there, an awful lot of those talented veterans got transferred to the 'burbs, often soon after they violated some unspoken rule of newsroom decorum - excessive cursing, sloppy dress, rejecting some dumb story idea that came from the glass offices, etc.
Carroll is very, very smart and throws off story ideas the way a steel wheel throws off sparks. He did a great job of working with reporters on the long projects that he loves, and he was good at inspiring the troops. The old-timers who think he ran The Sun into the ground fail to understand what was happening at other newspapers at the time. He held the line against the truly awful management fads that swept through so many newsrooms in the '90s, as newspaper executives got more and more panicky and befuddled by declining readership. If he'd had an ME with better people skills, and if he hadn't had this unfortunate blind spot where the pre-existing Sun staff was concerned, he could have accomplished much more for The Sun and the city.
I think Simon has bought into the Marimow credo - "it's all personal." I sympathize with his sense of outrage at the gutting of to the paper he loved. But he seems to think Carroll and Marimow are uniquely evil in some way.
Sadly, nothing about The Sun's decline was unique. The Sun of the '90s was already an anachronism, a good five or ten years behind the curve. It was blessed with good geography; it was far from LA, and the home office didn't pay much attention to it, so the editors were free to commit journalism at a time when that was becoming increasingly difficult.
I worked at two very fine newspapers before coming to The Sun - one owned by Cox, the other by Knight-Ridder. All three chains followed the same trajectory on their long, painful slides into the tank. First comes a change in corporate leadership: bosses who are dedicated to journalism and to their newspapers' communities retire or get bought out. They are replaced by executives who consider newspapers to be a product like any other, who talk about "markets," not commmunities, and who think their job is to enrich stockholders, not inform readers. One by one, the best editors refuse to do the dirty deeds they must do to maximize profits. They quit, and are replaced by yes-men who genuinely believe they're doing more with less, and do not realize that they're running a good paper into the ground.
Despite their failings - and they had plenty - I count Carroll and Marimow among the best and most principled editors of a disgraceful era. If Simon had worked at a couple of other papers instead of spending his whole career at The Sun, his view would probably be a bit more nuanced and the final season of The Wire would be a bit better than it is. But it's still the best thing on television by far and if you know of a better, more realistic newspaper movie or series, I'd love to see it.
I agree that the best response to the show is anger - not at Simon, but at the corporate owners who answer to day traders on Wall Street rather than to readers on Baltimore Street. Wall Street has all the wisdom and foresight of a manic-depressive 12-year-old. After the past month, if you don't know that, you haven't been paying attention. This is the institution to which we have entrusted our free press, the last safeguard of our democracy? God help us all.
I have to laugh when I see the comments that Simon's portrayal of The Sun is not credible. I am a former Sun staffer who was hired by Marimow and Carroll. So far, every single newsroom situation is based on a real event that occurred during my time there. In scenes involving the top editors, most of the dialogue is taken practically verbatim from actual newsroom conversations.
I think these commenters have it mostly right. I had worked at a couple of fine newspapers before joining The Sun, and I knew that top editors usually have much higher regard for their own hires than for the existing staff. But Carroll and Marimow took it to extremes. They seemed to have a real blind spot. With just a few exceptions, they were unable to appreciate the abundant talents of the people who were there before they got there.
I joined the paper when CJR, E&P and others were beating the drum about the miraculous turnaround that Marimow and Carroll had pulled off at The Sun - in fact, I came to the paper because I wanted to be part of that. From Day One, it was obvious that some of their young hires were very talented, but most were in jobs that they were not experienced enough to handle. They got very little guidance from the then-metro editor, who mostly worked on whatever big series was in the prize-entry chute. A few of the newcomers were empty shirts, or worse.
The remaining members of the old guard were solid, smart reporters. Many of them could write rings around the new hires. But during my time there, an awful lot of those talented veterans got transferred to the 'burbs, often soon after they violated some unspoken rule of newsroom decorum - excessive cursing, sloppy dress, rejecting some dumb story idea that came from the glass offices, etc.
Carroll is very, very smart and throws off story ideas the way a steel wheel throws off sparks. He did a great job of working with reporters on the long projects that he loves, and he was good at inspiring the troops. The old-timers who think he ran The Sun into the ground fail to understand what was happening at other newspapers at the time. He held the line against the truly awful management fads that swept through so many newsrooms in the '90s, as newspaper executives got more and more panicky and befuddled by declining readership. If he'd had an ME with better people skills, and if he hadn't had this unfortunate blind spot where the pre-existing Sun staff was concerned, he could have accomplished much more for The Sun and the city.
I think Simon has bought into the Marimow credo - "it's all personal." I sympathize with his sense of outrage at the gutting of to the paper he loved. But he seems to think Carroll and Marimow are uniquely evil in some way.
Sadly, nothing about The Sun's decline was unique. The Sun of the '90s was already an anachronism, a good five or ten years behind the curve. It was blessed with good geography; it was far from LA, and the home office didn't pay much attention to it, so the editors were free to commit journalism at a time when that was becoming increasingly difficult.
I worked at two very fine newspapers before coming to The Sun - one owned by Cox, the other by Knight-Ridder. All three chains followed the same trajectory on their long, painful slides into the tank. First comes a change in corporate leadership: bosses who are dedicated to journalism and to their newspapers' communities retire or get bought out. They are replaced by executives who consider newspapers to be a product like any other, who talk about "markets," not commmunities, and who think their job is to enrich stockholders, not inform readers. One by one, the best editors refuse to do the dirty deeds they must do to maximize profits. They quit, and are replaced by yes-men who genuinely believe they're doing more with less, and do not realize that they're running a good paper into the ground.
Despite their failings - and they had plenty - I count Carroll and Marimow among the best and most principled editors of a disgraceful era. If Simon had worked at a couple of other papers instead of spending his whole career at The Sun, his view would probably be a bit more nuanced and the final season of The Wire would be a bit better than it is. But it's still the best thing on television by far and if you know of a better, more realistic newspaper movie or series, I'd love to see it.
I agree that the best response to the show is anger - not at Simon, but at the corporate owners who answer to day traders on Wall Street rather than to readers on Baltimore Street. Wall Street has all the wisdom and foresight of a manic-depressive 12-year-old. After the past month, if you don't know that, you haven't been paying attention. This is the institution to which we have entrusted our free press, the last safeguard of our democracy? God help us all.
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