The Paper?

  I was flicking through the channels last night and came across an interesting new show on MTV. Now, I am not an MTV fan at all, but I decided to watch this show for one sole premise, Journalism. 

    The show, The Paper, is a new twist on normal reality shows, about teens in high school on a newspaper team. The first episode was about four young hopefuls looking to become the new Editor-In-Chief. The rest of the season is about how the Newspaper Team is run and the inside politics that lay beneath the surface. 

    The paper these "lucky" teens write for is called "The Circuit." Supposedly this paper doesn't just cover school topics, but bigger topics such as Presidential Elections and the war in Iraq. Now, when watching this show, I couldn't help but wonder what effect it will have on my generation that watches MTV.

 A few questions ran through my head: 

1. Will this show become a flop because it portrays more of a "Lord Of The Flies" type of plot rather than sex, scandal, drugs and drama?

2. Could this show start a new wave of newspaper? 

3.Now that this world has become so technological, will this maybe stir up possibilities of the traditional newspaper, not just online news broadcasting or television?

4. Will young teens start to read the paper and get more caught up on news because it seems "cool" now that it is on MTV?

5. Will this show just become about the teens or will it really discuss the newspaper producing process? 

    One safe bet to say is that there will be drama. Teenagers trapped in a room together? Yes, there will be. 

    I am praying though this will actually make students in high school more aware of the school newspaper and actually pay attention to the news being printed. 

  I worked at my high school's newspaper and not many students actually read the paper. The students just collected it during every announcement meeting time and looked to see if they were on the picture collage on the back of each paper. 

    If all else fails, I at least this show can make students more aware of their surroundings. 

However, I am curious to see if there is any impact on technology with this show. Maybe for once, teenagers will read more than texts and IM's to get their information....