Tell us how you really feel about journalism David Simon…

Reading the news is an act of faith. There is an implicit understanding that the words contained in the pages, whether physical or digital, are truthful.  Many readers do not even question the reality of the words that they read, trusting the name on the masthead as an assurance. In actuality, journalism is fraught with ethical dilemmas and not all journalists are honest. Additionally, the collapse of print journalism in its traditional forms is causing the weakening of reporting across the county.  This conflicted and flawed version of the newsroom, filtered through the biases of David Simon is one of the central plotlines of The Wire’s fifth season. This scene, where they discuss the budget cuts, illustrates some of these issues.

Even though it is not a major factor until the fifth season, journalism and The Baltimore Sun are embedded in the fabric of The Wire. David Simon’s gateway to the streets of Baltimore was his time as a reporter for The Sun.  The corruption found in the fifth season is part of what drove Simon away from reporting, and on his path to the creation of The Wire.  Nowhere is this influence more visible then the fifth season. Some (like here and here) critique the fifth season as a thinly veiled letter from Simon to The Sun. It is a slice of the structure of a newspaper that journalist (and communication students) are the only one that at privy too. (Authors note: I am a communications major I have not had a single communications class that the phrase “If it bleeds, it leads,” which Gus says in one episode, has NOT been mentioned.)  The ethical issues of journalism and the struggle to shine to earn a place in a dying discipline are embodied in reporter Scott Templeton.

Scott Templeton. Image Courtesy HBO's The Wire

Templeton makes a habit of falsifying quotes, rivaling the over the edge McNulty in weaving webs of falsities. This goes against the basic ethical code of journalist.  Unlike lawyers and doctors, there is no official set of standards that journalist must swear to uphold.  This creates a gray area with journalist. However, one code that is seen, as a baseline in addition to individual paper codes is the Ethic Code of the Society for Professional Journalist (SPJ) This code breaks the proper behavior for journalist into four broader areas and further explicates those obligations.  Scott Templeton manages to break all of these, and ends up being praised for it.  The first of these obligations is to “Seek the Truth and Report it,” which seems on the surface to be the basic function of a journalist. This is the most detailed of the four SPJ principles, and involves the obvious ideas of determining the accuracy of information and spelling, but goes deeper to include ideas of journalist working to include the full range of diversity in their paper.  It also breaches the issue of anonymous sources, which is touched upon in The Wire. The use of anonymous or “background” sources is a practice becoming increasingly more common in journalism. However, this over reliance on anonymous sources can become an issue. In The Wire it allows McNulty to perpetuate his lies to his benefit, without having to take the risk of associating his name with the investigation at first.

The second SPJ principle is to “minimize harm”, or try and reduce the negative impact of a story.  For journalist, this means to show respect for both sources and subjects in their reporting, and too report on controversial or potentially damning matters in the most sensitive way possible.  SPJ also requires journalists to “act independently,” avoiding conflicts of interest or the potential monetary and personal benefits of a story.  The last, area of ethical behavior is the obligation to “be accountable,” which includes acknowledging mistakes and being transparent about the newsgathering process.

Scott Templeton blatantly does not behave in an ethical way. From the first episode it is obvious that he is fabricating sources and quotes.  It has been speculated that the character is based on real life Sun reporter and colleague of David Simon Jim Haner, who Simon accused of lying in his reporting.  Haner, an outsider to the Baltimore area brought in as new talent after downsizing was also awarded for reporting done on Baltimore’s poor.   He controversially described one neighborhood as being nicknamed “Zombieland,” claiming it was used when in fact it does not appear anywhere else.

One of the most famous cases of newsroom fallacy comes from another Marylander, a reporter at Templeton’s dream employer, the New York Times. In 2003, Jayson Blair was forced to resign from the New York Times after it was discovered he had lied in many of his stories, changing bylines, making up quotes and interview and more.  Blair was a young favorite of the editor, who had promoted him in spite of warnings from his supervisor.  Ultimately, Blair was caught. Today, he ironically works as a life coach in the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area. In this speech at William and Lee’s journalism summit, Blair recounts his mistakes and describes how they fit into the general context of modern journalism.

In the end, Templeton does not have a spectacular downfall like Blair. However, there serve as fictional and real life examples of the failing of journalism and the difficulties with adhering the ethical standards of journalism.

The N-word and the Media: Drawing a Shaky Line

One of the most controversial words in the English language and one of the most common words in The Wire are one in the same. This word has the power to unite and anger, to shame and alienate, all depending on the context that it is used in. This word has such a social stigma that it cannot even be spelled out, but is abbreviated to its first letter to reduce its powers.  Of course, this refers to the n-word.

In The Wire, scarcely a scene goes by without the word. This is especially true of the scenes on the corner. In this context, the word is often used simply as a noun. A person is “those East Side Niggas” or “my nigga.” In Season 4, during Mr. Prez’s math class, the children use it as a unit of measure, doing a measure of diving apples by saying “You’ve got seven apples, 12 niggas…” It is clear that the word has become less of a powerful insult, and more of a self-descriptor when used from within the African American community.  Some argue that this approach in media and other type of productions is a way to handle the word’s power. Comedian Lenny Bruce had a routine where he repeated the word, urging that the more times it was said, the less bitter the sting would be.  Organizations like the National Coalition Against Censorship argue against laws and book curriculum removals that would block the use of the word.

However, this comfort with the frequency of the word, or the idea that it has been taken over by African Americans to emerge a new word is contested. New York Times write Toure explained the opposite in a column in 2011, stating,

“The idea that this generation of kids has recontextualized or defanged nigga is silly. Nigga is a Siamese twin of nigger. The two words are interdependent. Nigga would have none of its edginess or power or cultural sexiness without its close relationship with the Darth Vader of American English. Nigga is nigger with an ironic twist, but the venom is still in its fangs.”

While research on the Internet did not reveal the use in The Wire as contested, the use of the n-word in media has been a historical battle. One of the most famous battles about this is the use of the n-word in Huckleberry Finn.  The book has been removed from school curriculums and libraries due to the use of the offending word.  Last year, a new version of the book was released with the word “nigger” replaced with the word “slave,” which spark outcry of “whitewashing” the book.  Marc Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who orchestrated the release of the new book, argues that its removal is actually a method to allow more dialogue about the issues discussed in the novel. Gribben believes that “for a single word to form a barrier, it seems such an unnecessary state of affair.”

Cover for Randal Kennedy's Book

In the book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy discusses some of the history of the n-word, but also writes as a caution against scrubbing the media clean of the word.   Somewhere between over saturation and removal lies the difficult medium, according to Kennedy.   However, this still leaves the use of the word in the HBO series in unclear ground. It raised questions about the use by white producer David Simon. While working on the Corner, his first venture for HBO, Simon clashed with African American director Charles Dutton, who was uncomfortable with the ability of a Caucasian man to tell African American stories. (More about their interesting dynamic in this article)  Potentially, people are more comfortable with the language because of the reality of the series, and how it feels less as though The Wire is less putting words in mouths and more capturing the street. However, the actors on The Wire are not afforded this allowance outside of the confines of the show. An interview ith Idris Elba, the actor who played Stringer Bell, a character not shy to the n-word, drew complaints for the use of the n-word in clips from The Wire, critiquing Elba even though he explained he did not like the word himself. What is left is an inconclusive picture of a word that as Kennedy puts it, is troublesome, and certainly strange.

Savage Inequalities: AP Tests in PG County

DuVal High School and Eleanor Roosevelt High School are three miles apart physically, but the distance that separates the lives of their students is vast.   Eleanor Roosevelt is home to one of three partial site magnet programs in Prince George’s County, MD. DuVal shows test scores and resources that are vastly lower the Roosevelt, most of the best resources going down the road to Roosevelt.  Just up 4-95 is Baltimore, the location of The Wire, which depicts the issues of education inequality, especially in its Forth Season.

A great deal of the Forth season takes place in Edward Tilghman Middle School, where a lack of resources and pressures to stick to testing has lead to a failing institution. Children are pushed through grades in a process of social promotion, and there are books that are falling apart.  Children are taught to the MSA, a result of the No Child Left Behind. This can be compared to the opulence of the private school that white detective McNulty considers sending his children to. He attends an open house. There are refreshments, and clearly a great deal of wealth. Instead of a test-based curriculum, the teachers are talking about their specialized math curriculum.

The difference is even more disturbing when two public institutions are involved, like in DuVal and Roosevelt.   The website MDSchoolReportCardpublishes demographics and highlights their vast differences.  One of the areas of difference is advanced placement testing. At DuVal, 10.2% of students took AP tests in 2011, and only 11.8% of tests were between 3-5, the passing rate. At Eleanor Roosevelt 63.3% of exams where above a 3, and 27% of  students are enrolled in tests.

The book Savage Inequalities  also discusses the problems with  the different education people are receiving.  In order to encourage students to take higher level courses, Prince George’s county has subsidized the cost of Advanced Placement Tests for all students. The argument is that the cost of tests has barred students from taking the courses. In fact, the amount of AP tests taken in PG county has risen from 2,252 in 2006-2007 to 4,037 in 2010-2011. (Toth)  Additionally, 26% of students passed with a 3 or higher, which is lower then 40% in the more affluent Howard county next door. (Toth) In an nominal effort to make sure the waiving of fees is matched with the avialabilty of classes, the school system has also created a minimum of AP courses offered at each school, between 8 and 18. (Toth)  The county is also working with the College Board, adminstrator of the Advanced Placement test to complete a full study of AP testing in the county.  (Terhune)  The county hopes to reach a goal of 75% of students taking AP tests by 2017, but so far only 43% of students are taking the test, even with the pushed emphasis. (Terhune) The money for this is being funded with $250,000 from its Maryland “Race to the Top Grant.” (Terhune) This “Race to the Top” grant is a part fo No Child Left Behind. Only time will tell how successful these measures are. However, based on previous patterns, pouring money into more forms of testing, or forcing students to take honors classes will not increase school performance. Schools like Roosevlet, who have more children interested in taking AP classes will still have more funding. After all, though the system said it is increasing testing,  it is still based on “interest” and “enrollment.” And so, the cycle will likely continue.

Terhune, Virginia. “College Board Takes In-depth Look at Prince George’s AP Classes.”Gazette.net. Gazette, 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://ww2.gazette.net/stories/03172011/prinsch140920_32534.php&gt;.

Toth, Sara. “More Prince George’s Students Taking AP Tests, According to College Board.” Explore Howard.com. Baltimore Sun, 15 Feb. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/howard/news/ph-ll-edbriefs-ap-0216-20120215,0,4149345.story&gt;.