Call Issued For Small-Town Newspaper Reality Show

The National Newspaper Association this week issued a casting call for local community newspaper companies, to be featured on a reality show about the struggling but still fascinating industry.

 NBC Peacock Productions issued the call for small-town papers to issue submissions for such a show:

What’s your small-town paper like?

Do you work hard? Make each other laugh?

Is your team a real version of “The Office” meets “Parks and Recreation?”

 According to the Romenesko website, which covers the media industry, more than 70 editors and publishers responded to the company’s overture, just in the first couple of days.

The idea of a newspaper reality show isn’t unprecedented: In 2008, MTV broadcast an 8-episode reality show called The Paper, about the staff of a high school newspaper in Florida. I may be biased as a journalist, but I was glued to the show all the way through.