Isn't the news itself still valuable to anyone?

David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun reporter and executive producer of HBO's hit series "The Wire," questions what's happening in the newspaper industry in a recent column for The Washington Post.
From zoned tabs to the trend of brevity, Simon wonders why many newspapers have seemingly forgot about impoartant coverage areas and about readers who want well-reported, well-told news stories.

"In Baltimore, the newspaper now has 300 newsroom staffers, and it is run by some fellows in Chicago who think that number sufficient to the task. And the locally run company that was once willing to pay for a 500-reporter newsroom, to moderate its own profits in some basic regard and put money back into the product? Turns out it wasn't willing to do so to build a great newspaper, but merely to clear the field of rivals, to make Baltimore safe for Gremlins and Pacers. And at no point in the transition from one to the other did anyone seriously consider the true cost of building something comprehensive, essential and great. And now, no profits. No advertising. No new readers. Now, the great gray ladies are reduced to throwing what's left of their best stuff out there on the Web, unable to charge enough for online advertising, or anything at all for the journalism itself."

To read Simon's full column click here.