#Standing

Wait a minute. I was certain I heard David Simon recently drone on and on about how much he didn't care about "standing." It's all very confusing.

But when he suggested in a recent piece for CJR that people like me who disagree with his position on paid content were unqualified, that got under my skin a bit. Simon wrote, “These folks (paywall opponents) don’t understand the first thing about actual journalism.” He also lumped us in with an imaginary crowd of people who supposedly think amateurs can replace professionals, though we take no such position.

Owens goes on from there with a robust list of reasons "David Simon is wrong about paywalls." Go read the rest of the article. It's free to access.

To me the central question here is one of mission. If, for instance, you believe the purpose of a daily news publication is to provide quality reporting to a small but well educated and relatively affluent niche of the population then the notion of a digital subscription model might be attractive to you. David Simon produces a smug and boring show about the "authenticity" of New Orleans culture meant for an educated and affluent niche audience of premium cable subscribers and that works quite well for him.