Can MTV's 'The Paper' help make newspapers cool again?

By Chuck Barney
Contra Costa Times

God bless Amanda Lorber, a senior at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Fla., who says "Journalists are the most important part of the world."

Oh, a woman after my own heart. Say it loud and proud.

Amanda is editor-in-chief of the Circuit, an award-winning student publication that serves as the setting for MTV's new reality series "The Paper" (10:30 p.m. Mondays).

You heard right. A school newspaper. On MTV.

The show marks a real departure for the youth-centric cable network. It's not "The Real World," or "Laguna Beach," or "The Hills." Rich, hot-looking kids aren't making out in Jacuzzis. They're not slamming shots in some raucous club. They're not prancing about in skimpy bikinis on spring break.

Instead, the show just focuses on smart, normal kids going to class, sacrificing large chunks of their social lives and pouring their passion into a "... newspaper.

Excuse me while I clear the lump in my throat.

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