High school paper setting for MTV reality series

There still are people with an affection for newspapers, some of whom are actually young people.

Perhaps “The Paper,” a reality series debuting tonight on youth-oriented MTV (10:30 p.m., cable channel 63 in Spokane, 43 in Coeur d’Alene) will expand this base.

Set at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Fla., “The Paper” follows the staff of the student newspaper, The Circuit, from the spirited competition for the position of editor-in-chief last spring to the mundane but challenging efforts to get out the paper each month.

The eight-part series is a reality show but in no way a game. There is drama, but none of it is scripted or contrived.

These teens are ambitious, passionate about journalism and as serious as Woodward and Bernstein, so tensions occasionally explode into emotional outbursts.

The characters are vivid and distinct, but not hoping to be discovered by TV or film. Imagine “The Hills,” but with young people acting responsibly and doing something worthwhile.