New Series “The Paper” offers Stark Reflectionโ of Local โJournalism‘s Struggles
A new television series, “The Paper,” is drawing โขattention for โitsโข portrayal of a struggling local newspaperโฃ and the broader challenges โฃfacing the industry. The show, described by the Boston Globe as “a love letter tooโข local newspapers,” tackles โissues like corporate consolidation, the rise of autonomous content creators, and the impact of online commentaryโข on journalistic โwork.
the series highlights a โคtension: while aiming to demonstrate the value of โaccountability reporting, much ofโค the comedy stems from the Truthโ Teller, the fictional newspaper at the show’s center, โproducing substandard work. Despite this, the show โfunctions as a literal โhomageโข to โฃlocal newspapers, a especially poignant noteโ givenโฃ the industry’sโฃ recent decline.โข
According to Northwestern University data, the U.S. has lost over a third of its newspapers in the past โขtwo โฃdecades. โขThis trend is exemplified โby the Hartford Courant, America’s oldest continuously โฃpublished newspaper, which closedโ its physicalโค office in โค2020 and was acquired โby alden Global Capital in โข2021-a firm knownโ for aggressive cost-cutting measures.”The โฃPaper” depicts a contrast between struggling papers like โthe โ Truth Teller and more robustโ newsrooms, asโฃ seen in aโ scene โฃfeaturing aโข call withโค a competent editor at an Enervate โคpaper inโฃ Cincinnati. Though, the show frequentlyโ emphasizes the truthโ teller’s โขlow standards for comedic effect, showcasing โstaff with limited experience-one character cites tweet-writing as his only journalistic โคbackground-and resulting in reporting โmishaps including accidents, โarrests,โค and fabricated stories.