As if journalism and the newspaper industry didn't have enough to worry about these days (job cuts, doing more with less, lack of public trust), now there's MTV's "The Paper" (10:30 tonight) to make aspiring journalists look like a bunch of gossipy, backbiting over-achievers. I'm not saying it's inaccurate, just a bit unseemly.

"The Paper" follows the lives of aspiring journalists at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Fla. These kids are not the beauties of "The Hills" or "Laguna Beach." They look far more like normal teenagers, which is a good thing. But for anyone who's lived through high school, will there be a desire to return to those days and relive this realistic angst?

The series gets off to a laughable start as wannabe editor-in-chief Amanda declares, seriously, "Journalists are the most important part of the world. They really are."

Currently a copy editor, Amanda is dying to be editor of The Circuit, Cypress Bay High's student newspaper, mostly, it seems, because she likes to boss her fellow students around.

Other students in the running include Alex (sports editor), overly dramatic Adam (business manager) and Giana (clubs editor). But more than anything, they all want anyone to get the job besides Amanda.

"If Amanda gets in-chief, this paper will be in shambles," Adam declares. Then they discuss "impeaching" her before adviser Ms. Weiss even names a new EIC.

"Everybody's plotting how they're not gonna listen to her," Giana says.

In its first episode, "The Paper" has very little to do with journalism. Instead, it follows the docu-reality pattern of emphasizing character drama.

Of course, these are real kids, and none of them come off well. Amanda does suffer from a superiority complex while her rivals seem like immature bullies who feed their resentment by ganging up on Amanda.

For any teens considering a career in journalism, be advised that it does get better than this. In the professional world, the haters tend to be more discreet.