Not Exactly a Red Hot Press

Last night was the premiere of MTV's The Paper, which I had mentioned before I was just a teensy bit excited for. I'm going to be a high school publications adviser, I can't help it. I'm a sucker for anything high school related; add in journalism and it's all I can do not to squeal with delight.

Unfortunately, The Paper's debut episode wasn't exactly riveting. Stupid me--for some reason I actually thought they would show a little bit more about producing the newspaper. They mentioned ad sales and showed computers with layouts on screen, but not much else. Sure, the episode's main plot point was who would be the next editor-in-chief, but the focus seemed more to be on the cliques within the staff rather than what that job would entail. And is it just me or was it totally bizarre that the adviser was making such an important decision alone, and based solely on a short essay? I digress...

As I should have predicted, so far the show is more about petty high school stuff than how a high school paper is run. Nevertheless, I will be watching it next week and taping it. You never know, I might learn something valuable for next year.

Great commentary/review on Slate.com: The Tracy Flick of Journalism