Meanwhile in a completely different series, some newspaper men are standing outside a building, complaining about the dire straits print journalism finds itself in these days. I kid, I kid -- we're getting an introduction to the world of Media, which joins Labor Unions, Government, and Public Schools in The Wire's Which Institution Is Failing You Now? world tour. And let's get this out there right now: I'm very ambivalent about this storyline, because your friendly recapper spent a good portion of his working life in the newspaper game -- first at a decent weekly in the middle of nowhere, then at a shitbag suburban daily, and finally at a national paper that I'm still somewhat convinced was printed each day as some part of ill-considered dare on the part of the publisher. At any rate, I tend to find movie and TV portrayals of my one-time profession unbearable to watch, either because of the howling inaccuracies made in the name of dramatic license or because the issues raised, while doubtlessly entertaining to Joe and Jane Viewer, are dull and commonplace to yours truly. I am fairly confident that Simon and Company are clever enough to avoid these pitfalls, but you never know.