From today 26 January is available on Sky and NOW, Sky’s streaming platform, The Paper, the series set in the same narrative universe as The Office, another series later became a cult of the comedy starring Steve Carell as the impromptu head office Michael Scott. The Paper shifts the attention from the boring original series company to a small Midwest newspaper, with the intent to shed light on what is the world of American local publishing. The Paper is one of the many drafts in the grips with a structural crisis that over the past twenty years has hit thousands of paper newspapers in the United States. According to the data of the Pew Research Center, in fact, from 2005 to today more than a third of the local newspapers has drastically closed or reduced its activity, overwhelmed by the decrease of sales and the transfer of advertising to the digital.
The story revolves around the Toledo Truth Teller, a local Ohio newspaper that risks closing. Ned Sampson, interpreted by Domhnall Gleeson, an idealist editor-in-chief with a vision strongly linked to the public and traditional function of journalism, more oriented to information than visibility. At its side – and often in open contrast – there is the managing editor Esmeralda Grand, interpreted by Sabrina Impacciatore. The character of the Impacciatore instead embodies an idea opposite the information of Sampson, more oriented to personal visibility, advertising revenues and, therefore, to the ruthless logic of clickbait. Soon said, screen representation is that of the conflict between traditional journalism and aggressive digital models, today almost central in the information world.
The Paper, as mentioned, is a spin-off of The Office, therefore the series is set in the same narrative universe and resumes the format of the mockumentary already used: a troupe, the same as the original series, follows the daily life of the editorial staff, documenting meetings, editorial choices and internal tensions. The showrunner Greg Daniels, already author of The Office, said that The Paper was born as a “comedy based on characters”, more interested in human dynamics than to put on a satire of the media system. In this sense, Ned Sampson represents a recognizable figure for anyone who has worked in a editorial office before the social network affirmation: a professional convinced that local information is an essential service for the community, even at the cost of the economic budget.
The character of Esmeralda Grand, on the contrary, is built to highlight some of the contemporary publishing trends: obsessive attention to visibility, the strategic use of social media and the confusion between information and self-promotion typical of digital authors. Michael Koman and Daniels have adapted the role on the interpretation of Impacciatore, conquered by the Italian accent and the most hysterical traits of the character, presenting to the American audience a very different character than the Impacciatore known in The White Lotus.
As in The Office, next to the protagonists is a choral cast that, in The Paper, reflects the composition of a editorial staff: long-term reporters, administrative figures, external consultants and business managers, who in this first season remain more in the background but help to return the image of an editorial ecosystem where decisions are never just journalistic.
L’articolo The Paper, The Office’s spin-off with Sabrina Impacciatore available today in Italy proviene da IlNewyorkese.
