David Simon Entertains, Inspires Guild Members
During Gathering at the Post Pub

Guild-covered employees at the Washington Post were treated to a candid conversation May 21 with David Simon, the former Baltimore Sun reporter who went on to produce the HBO hit series "The Wire."

Simon held court at the Post Pub for nearly two hours, talking freely about everything from newspapers’ obsession with Pulitzer Prizes, to police departments’ obsession with faking their crime statistics, to why he had to kill off the popular “Stringer” Bell character in season three and, yes, the great importance and value of having a union at the Washington Post.

Simon noted the differences in how workers at non-unionized newspapers have been treated of late – with many of them being laid off with no notice – as compared to workers at unionized papers where labor contracts have forced management to temper its colder impulses. He blamed newspaper publishers for not appreciating early in the Internet revolution that the news and other content they generated each day had great value, whether printed on paper or uploaded to the Web.

While the movie and music industries have fought from the beginning to retain that value by insisting on tight intellectual property rules and by charging appropriate fees for downloads and online rights, the newspapers gave their content away for free, Simon said. Now, with the public spoiled by the availability of free news, there seems to be no turning back, he said. And the companies – and ultimately their employees – are paying the price, as cost-cutting has become almost as important as news gathering itself.

Simon emphasized that now, more than ever, Post employees ought to be working to keep the Guild strong.

The three buyouts in the past five years have taken a particular toll on union membership, which was already tilted somewhat towards older employees. In the latest buyout alone, 61 Guild members either left or will soon leave the paper, including a number of long-term activists. "It will be up to the new generation of younger newspaper employees to keep the Guild strong," Simon said.