2008 Woodie Awards
'The Paper' does not do journalism justice
Andy Harper
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Opinions
Not to say high school students are required to be "innocent," but Web sites like Facebook and MySpace already cause future employees trouble. The first episode of this show is basically like "Minors Gone Wild."
True, these high school staffers could have been drinking water or sparkling cider. Trever and his girlfriend Giana could have just gone upstairs to talk or snuggle. But I doubt future employers will view their actions as such.
The second screw from this reality show comes in the form of character assassination.
Amanda is a self-righteous, obnoxious know-it-all who sends her staff into rage at the sound of her voice. She's about as well-equipped to lead a publication as a first-year med student is to perform heart surgery. Amanda may know the mechanics, but she lacks the grace to direct her nurses and the finesse to keep the patient alive.
The managing editor is anything but. Alex Angert is a sheepish, two-faced mediator between the big, bad editor and his unhappy peers. Instead of plotting to overthrow a leader who cannot be fired by the staff, he should be concentrating on assisting Amanda in making the newspaper the best possible publication. Although, with Amanda's obvious control issues, it's unlikely she'll actually let Alex do his job.
Trevor and Giana apparently didn't get enough "alone" time during the house party, because the only time you see either of them in the season preview, they are groping each other like bunnies in spring.
Adam Brock is a lot less striking than his name implies. The first time this overdramatic queen of advertising throws a tantrum in a real newsroom, he'll be fired. Being passed up for editor in chief is a major let down, but for Adam to drop to his knees and cry in agony, in the middle of a hallway surrounded by his coworkers extinguished any respect his peers had for him.
Scratch that; throwing papers down during production and yelling, "You don't see what they do, why can't you see what I see?" and storming out of the room in a huff of his own awesomeness looks to be the final nail in a coffin designated for Adam's professionalism.
If anything, Rhonda Weiss is the only victim in this poorly-acted melodrama. Rhonda, the adviser for The Circuit, plays the role of the overstressed mother-figure bent on pleasing everyone. Too bad her children are unruly and unappeasable, too caught up in their own ambitions, wants and needs to find a place of compromise, ethics and integrity.
These potential future pillars of the journalism industry have shamed the very job they wanted to immortalize. And worse, they have dragged their own good names through the mud, and a good name is one of the most prized processions a journalist can own.
To be fair, these high school students could be amazing people. They could be responsible, talented, journalistically attuned, career-ambitious individuals, but at the end of the season, none of those qualities matter. Because in the end, no newspaper wants to use a byline tattered with a mixture of mud and shame.
Andy Harper is a senior journalism major.
True, these high school staffers could have been drinking water or sparkling cider. Trever and his girlfriend Giana could have just gone upstairs to talk or snuggle. But I doubt future employers will view their actions as such.
The second screw from this reality show comes in the form of character assassination.
Amanda is a self-righteous, obnoxious know-it-all who sends her staff into rage at the sound of her voice. She's about as well-equipped to lead a publication as a first-year med student is to perform heart surgery. Amanda may know the mechanics, but she lacks the grace to direct her nurses and the finesse to keep the patient alive.
The managing editor is anything but. Alex Angert is a sheepish, two-faced mediator between the big, bad editor and his unhappy peers. Instead of plotting to overthrow a leader who cannot be fired by the staff, he should be concentrating on assisting Amanda in making the newspaper the best possible publication. Although, with Amanda's obvious control issues, it's unlikely she'll actually let Alex do his job.
Trevor and Giana apparently didn't get enough "alone" time during the house party, because the only time you see either of them in the season preview, they are groping each other like bunnies in spring.
Adam Brock is a lot less striking than his name implies. The first time this overdramatic queen of advertising throws a tantrum in a real newsroom, he'll be fired. Being passed up for editor in chief is a major let down, but for Adam to drop to his knees and cry in agony, in the middle of a hallway surrounded by his coworkers extinguished any respect his peers had for him.
Scratch that; throwing papers down during production and yelling, "You don't see what they do, why can't you see what I see?" and storming out of the room in a huff of his own awesomeness looks to be the final nail in a coffin designated for Adam's professionalism.
If anything, Rhonda Weiss is the only victim in this poorly-acted melodrama. Rhonda, the adviser for The Circuit, plays the role of the overstressed mother-figure bent on pleasing everyone. Too bad her children are unruly and unappeasable, too caught up in their own ambitions, wants and needs to find a place of compromise, ethics and integrity.
These potential future pillars of the journalism industry have shamed the very job they wanted to immortalize. And worse, they have dragged their own good names through the mud, and a good name is one of the most prized processions a journalist can own.
To be fair, these high school students could be amazing people. They could be responsible, talented, journalistically attuned, career-ambitious individuals, but at the end of the season, none of those qualities matter. Because in the end, no newspaper wants to use a byline tattered with a mixture of mud and shame.
Andy Harper is a senior journalism major.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 11
SO WHAT...
posted 4/21/08 @ 10:39 AM CST
Have you seen the show "Greek" either? Do you think it does the whole greek community justice? Surprise, surprise... Something on TV grossly misrepresents something. (Continued…)
mike hudson
posted 4/21/08 @ 1:46 PM CST
Is this column a put-on? Is Andy Harper doing comedy here? The "prized processions" zinger at the end was priceless.
Daniel Bridges
posted 4/21/08 @ 2:17 PM CST
I feel like I'm wasting my time even by responding to this article (I haven't read but a few sentences from it.)
It's TELEVISION. Not only that, but it's MTV. (Continued…)
Neil Reisner
posted 4/21/08 @ 2:34 PM CST
Actually, a self-respecting newsroom -- if The Miami Herald so counts -- did allow "external media to chronicle the unimportant, uninteresting and irrelevant events that transpire within their work area. (Continued…)
Editor B
posted 4/21/08 @ 2:47 PM CST
Oh Andy, when will you learn to balance guilty pleasures - like reality TV - with professional life as a journalist? In today's world, I highly doubt any of the students sandbagged their careers because their high school student newspaper is a feature for a reality show. (Continued…)
Hannah
posted 4/21/08 @ 2:52 PM CST
Come on, they're in high school! And on MTV! Did you expect any better? Of course the kids are going to be ridiculous ? they're privileged teenagers on a reality show. (Continued…)
Oh Dear
posted 4/21/08 @ 4:17 PM CST
This is from a working journalist: you need to relax. You'll need it in the long run. Also, be careful. Newspapers loathe pompous pricks only a little less than they do immature children. (Continued…)
Matthew
posted 4/21/08 @ 7:21 PM CST
Does anyone here remember when the M in MTV stood for music? Do they still show any videos on it anymore? I don't cout TRL because they only show teenage dipshits shitting themselves because carson is going to play a 45 sec clip of the new video from brittney spears. (Continued…)
Michael S.
posted 4/22/08 @ 3:54 PM CST
As a veteran EIC of both my high school paper AND literary magazine, I can fairly confidently say...that none of this will matter much for the future of journalism -- and probably not for the future employment of those featured on the show. (Continued…)
Jamal R.
posted 4/22/08 @ 5:53 PM CST
Andy, this is awesome! I smiled broadly while reading this because though I saw The Paper as some kind of entertainment, I agree with you completely. I agree with whoever said that this is television so you can't take it at face value, but your article had plenty of merit for me. (Continued…)
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