Finally, a reality program to show the world the hard work it takes to publish and print a newspaper. Even though it was a high school paper, maybe an award-winning weekly newspaper could be capable of pulling it off. Oh, wait. It’s on MTV? Maybe not.
“The Paper” premiered Monday evening and started with a half-hour episode full of nonsense. But it is a high school paper, after all. Seven students battle for the title of editor-in-chief of The Circuit. The teacher selects Amanda, bubbly and blonde, who announces at the show’s opening that journalists are the most important people in the world. But the journalism pretty much ends right there.
It seems that the production team employed the following method of madness: First, ask all students whom they dislike the most. Next, make that person editor-in-chief. Why? Because catty teens love to talk about each other. They will hold grudges about being cheated out of the position by gossiping behind each others’ backs.
The show sadly resembled the worst parts of “The Real World”-where you can tell that the cast members are talking about the people sitting right next to them, just because a camera is in their faces. This show was a chance to represent student journalists, a chance that was washed down the drain. Not that we were expecting much from MTV.