Read between the lines

In a city that can no longer even recognise its problems, much less begin to solve them, police detectives attempt to bring in one last, worthy case against a violent crew of narcotics traffickers. And when bureaucratic poverty and infighting threatens that case, one detective will risk everything, creating a fraud that will eventually entangle the citys newspaper, which is weakened by declines in circulation and advertising. With journalism itself so vulnerable and desperate, an unscrupulous, ambitious reporter will ride the story wherever it goes or wherever he wants it to go. From the streets to the port to the schools and the halls of government, The Wire has chronicled the tribulations of a post-industrial American city. Now, in its final season, the drama directs its last question to the media and its consumers: If anything in The Wires depiction of urban America was genuine or important, then what is it, exactly, that occupies our attentions? What are the stories we embrace? And what are the stories we ignore? And why?