Award-Winning Writer and Producer David Simon to Address the Future of Professional Journalism at National Press Club Luncheon

Award-Winning Writer and Producer David Simon to Address the Future of Professional Journalism at National Press Club Luncheon

WASHINGTON, June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- David Simon, journalist and creator of the popular HBO drama, The Wire, will address the future of professional journalism at a National Press Club luncheon on Monday, June 8. Simon, in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet on May 6, said he believes "[nothing] can save high-end, professional journalism."

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO )

Simon, 48, is a Baltimore-based reporter, author and television producer. Born in Washington, he came to Baltimore in 1983 to work as a crime reporter at The Baltimore Sun. While at the paper, he reported and wrote two works of narrative non-fiction, Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets and The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, the former an account of a year spent with the city homicide squad and the latter, a year spent on a West Baltimore drug corner.

Homicide became the basis for the NBC drama which aired from 1993 to 1999 and for which Simon worked as a writer and producer. The Corner became an HBO miniseries and won three Emmy Awards in 2000. A subsequent HBO drama, The Wire, aired from 2001 to 2008 and depicted a dystopic American city contending with a fraudulent drug war, the loss of its industrial base, political and educational systems incapable of reform and a media culture oblivious to all of the above.

Also in 2008, Simon served as a writer and executive producer of HBO's Generation Kill, a miniseries depicting U.S. Marines in the early days of the Iraq conflict. He is currently at work on a drama about post-Katrina New Orleans entitled "Treme." Simon also does prose work for The New Yorker, Esquire and The Washington Post.

The National Press Club luncheon will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. Simon's remarks will begin at 1:00 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session. Advance reservations should be made by telephoning (202) 662-7501. Cost of the luncheon is $16 for National Press Club members, $28 for guests of members, and $35 general admission.

The National Press Club is located at 14th and F. Streets, NW, one block west of Metro Center. More information about the Club and its programs is found on its Internet website: www.press.org.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com

Source: National Press Club

CONTACT: Melinda Cooke of the National Press Club, +1-202-662-7516

Web Site: http://www.press.org/

---

Profile: International Entertainment