Link of the Day: On The Table
Crazy schedule has meant I’ve fallen way behind on some interesting links over the past few weeks. I’ll be funneling them through over the next few days, as life (very) temporarily returns to a more reasonable pace.
One of my favorites in a long time was sent to me by my buddies Jon and Dave, both huge fans (like me) of The Wire. I’ve discussed my love for The Wire before on the blog, arguing that it’s the greatest TV drama of all-time.
A big reason the show was so great was its authenticity. The show’s creator David Simon (who’s working on a new show about life in New Orleans, woo-hoo!) worked as a journalist in Baltimore, where he witnessed the huge drug culture, poverty, failing schools, corrupt politicians and maddening newspaper coverage that defined his years there. One of Simon’s favorite memes on the show was to point out how everyone–in the police department, in schools, City Hall, at the Baltimore Sun, or elsewhere–would go to great lengths to make themselves look good. For instance, Simon told us how both the police and public schools would “juke the stats”, making homicide clearance rates as well as graduation rates and test scores, look better than they really were.
One of Simon’s most memorable ideas was to highlight the dog-and-pony show the local cops would go through to make it seem like they were winning the local War On Drugs (a favorite topic here at JK.com). When the police would make one of its rare drug busts, they’d gather up all the dope and cash from the scene, haul it to a press conference, then dump it
all on a table for reporters and photographers to breathlessly document for their readers and viewers.
Against that backdrop, you had to love this recent story from the real Baltimore Sun. Headline:
City police raid turns up 90 pounds of cocaine
Bust is biggest in department’s history
Click here to read the story. Take note of the big photo at the top of the article. You can’t make this stuff up.
