High School Newspapers: Now Dramatic

3.87K

Hamilton Nolan

04/09/08 09:21AM

Filed to: Television

This image was lost some time after publication.

MTV, having covered every other aspect of the high school experience including the marching band, has finally made a reality series about a high school newspaper [NYO]. That hotbed of intrigue and sexual tension! As once-professional journalists as well as high school graduates, we have some bad news: the high school paper is simply not that exciting. Neither is the grown-up paper, for that matter. Newspapers are a prime example of things that produce a somewhat glamorous final product, but whose inner workings are drearily workmanlike. It's like visiting the Nike factory and being disappointed that it's populated by silent, sweating Vietnamese peasants, rather than by Lebron James. MTV's trailer for "The Paper" features kissing teens, violent arguments, pool parties, and a battle for editorship of the Cypress Bay High School student paper that "could change their lives(!)." Asdfjklasdfjkl. Sorry kids, nobody has time to read your resume anways! After the jump, the full trailer. The over-under on the number of these students who actually go into journalism: one. Probably the young Laurel Touby doppelganger

The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.

washwords Hamilton Nolan 04/09/08 02:10PM

uhh yah, cause i watch mtv reality shows for the integrity/news value/contribution they make to society. As someone who thought my hs and college newspaper work was every bit as important as they crazy kids do (and where the exact shenanigans I'm expecting from "the paper" actually occurred: baseball bologna, making out in the 'back room' late at night, "personal ads" to each other referencing inside jokes), I say BRING IT ON!

That said, uhh, my college (and h.s. in that I was lucky enough to be on one produced by a Real Grown Up City Newspaper staff) newspaper experience DID teach me /help me in landing early jobs than ANY class or formal training did. I actually learned things - like counting headlines (remember THAT? but it actually helped me master dtp later), AP style, dealing with difficult people - oh and produced some of the work I'm still proudest of— as my colleague from "the paper" said then "when else in life are you going to get to write, edit, design, layout, field comments, make editorial policy...." again?

Certainly not at the Gannett / Times Mirror / Wash Post-Newsweek places we both worked following college. More importantly, when are you going to get the chance to be 15 or 18 and watch someone reading something YOU wrote without knowing you're there and sincerely enjoy it. That thrill flickers out so fast (just check angryjournalist.com) - why rush to extinguish it?

Hmm, did i just write three paragraphs defending "the paper"? Hipster see-i-don't-REALLY-think-its-cool comment here: Also that girlie wanna-be-editor's sense of import alone is worth 10 LCs and a bag of chips, any day! bring on the cat fights!

washy

washwords.wordpress.com

washwords Hamilton Nolan 04/09/08 02:09PM

uhh yah, cause i watch mtv reality shows for the integrity/news value/contribution they make to society. As someone who thought my hs and college newspaper work was every bit as important as they crazy kids do (and where the exact shenanigans I'm expecting from "the paper" actually occurred: baseball bologna, making out in the 'back room' late at night, "personal ads" to each other referencing inside jokes), I say BRING IT ON!

That said, uhh, my college (and h.s. in that I was lucky enough to be on one produced by a Real Grown Up City Newspaper staff) newspaper experience DID teach me /help me in landing early jobs than ANY class or formal training did. I actually learned things - like counting headlines (remember THAT? but it actually helped me master dtp later), AP style, dealing with difficult people - oh and produced some of the work I'm still proudest of— as my colleague from "the paper" said then "when else in life are you going to get to write, edit, design, layout, field comments, make editorial policy...." again?

Certainly not at the Gannett / Times Mirror / Wash Post-Newsweek places we both worked following college. More importantly, when are you going to get the chance to be 15 or 18 and watch someone reading something YOU wrote without knowing you're there and sincerely enjoy it. That thrill flickers out so fast (just check angryjournalist.com) - why rush to extinguish it?

Hmm, did i just write three paragraphs defending "the paper"? Hipster see-i-don't-REALLY-think-its-cool comment here: Also that girlie wanna-be-editor's sense of import alone is worth 10 LCs and a bag of chips, any day! bring on the cat fights!

washy

washwords.wordpress.com

lawyergay Hamilton Nolan 04/09/08 09:53AM

I was also editor of my high school paper. I once met with a drama teacher to see about writing "real" reviews of performances at our school! Looking back, I realize that was my error. I was made to understand in no uncertain terms that "Good Time Had By All" would be used as the headline for all dramatic performances, past, present and future.

PrincessKashmir Hamilton Nolan 04/09/08 11:20AM

I was also editor of my paper, but there was plenty of drama. Not like marching band drama or drama drama, but enough to get me on the fast track to heavy drinking and angry sex.

The comments make me curious. How many EICs of high school papers are there here?