WARNING

Wire Creator Predicts Surge in Corruption

Newspapers' decline could be a boon to shady pols.

David Simon's wowed viewers and critics alike for five seasons with his epic drama The Wire, which explored crime, corruption, and poverty on the streets of Baltimore. Now Simon, who got his start as a crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun, is warning that unscrupulous politicians are set for a boomtime thanks to the decline of newspapers in America. "Oh, to be a state or local official in America over the next 10 to 15 years, before somebody figures out the business model," Simon tells The Guardian. "To gambol freely across the wastelands of an American city, as a local politician! It's got to be one of the great dreams in the history of American corruption." According to Simon, newspapers' best hope to avoid bankruptcy is to band together and collectively charge users to view their content online.