Production is set to begin next month on “The Paper,” a mockumentary television series by creator Greg Daniels. The show will be a follow-up to Daniels’ wildly successful American adaptation of “The Office” and occupy the same fictional universe as everyone’s favorite paper-pushers from Scranton.
Details about “The Paper” are sparse. But we know it will have the fictional Dunder Mifflin documentary camera crew following the team of a dying Midwestern newspaper and the volunteer journalists its publisher has recruited to resurrect the publication.
If it is anything like “The Office,” it will feature laughs from the wellspring of corporate culture’s absurdities. But it also has the same background material of its forerunner, arguably more humorous and primed for comedy than the eccentricities of office life: People passionate about a once-prominent medium in rapid decline.
For “The Office,” it was paper. For “The Paper,” it is print journalism.
I am no expert in television production schedules. Still, if I had to guess, I would say that “The Paper” will be released in 2025, around the same time that Good Faith Media’s “Nurturing Faith Journal” will be rebranded as “Good Faith Magazine.”
Perhaps Daniels and his crew could follow our team around for inspiration?
“Nurturing Faith Journal” isn’t a newspaper but began as one. In 1983, a group of moderate Southern Baptist leaders created SBC Today, a new publication designed to counter propaganda from fundamentalist forces seizing control of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
Spoiler alert: The fundamentalists won. The various news stories from last week’s gathering in Indianapolis revealed that the most “moderate” voices currently left in the SBC make the typical moderate from 1983 look like Che Guevara.
But while institutional battles are often zero-sum games, reality isn’t. One side’s victory doesn’t always mean the other side’s defeat. If anything, the current state of the SBC serves as proof that, in the marketplace of ideas, the 1983 moderates had the winning hand.
They knew the fundamentalist genome was designed for division. Once it vanquishes its enemies, it will look for new ones. When it can find no more, it will make an enemy of itself. It may maintain outward power for a time, but always at the expense of its soul.
Meanwhile, SBC Today adapted. It continued to offer an alternative Baptist voice but expanded beyond its earlier, more narrow borders.
Forging mutually beneficial partnerships with the Cooperative Baptist Convention, Alliance of Baptists, BJC and others, it leaned into a more expansive Baptist world. A new name, Baptists Today, reflected this adaptation.
Eventually, Baptists Today became “Nurturing Faith Journal” (NFJ). Along the way, the publication transformed from a newspaper to a magazine format.
Each new iteration reflected the belief that following the way of Jesus is an expansive, not restrictive, endeavor. New voices were added, new ideas explored.
NFJ is currently published six times a year. It includes editorials, feature stories and reflections from people of faith. The most significant component of the journal is Tony Cartledge’s incredible, in-depth Bible studies. Every week, Sunday School classes and small groups around the country count on the journal to guide their study and conversation of our sacred texts.
The new “Good Faith Magazine” will build on the expansive, inclusive tradition of SBC Today, Baptists Today and “Nurturing Faith Journal.” Baptist life will always be our “family of origin,” and the Baptist principles of soul competency and religious freedom will continue to guide us. However, rather than being a home base, the Baptist community has become our launching pad into the broader world of faith.
Good Faith Magazine will be released four times yearly, but Sunday School groups will still receive a year’s worth of Bible studies through church subscriptions. Individuals will no longer need to subscribe, but will receive four complimentary issues a year with a $50 or more donation.
The publication will continue to feature stories and ideas from a diverse collection of writers with creative ideas and discoveries that will animate and energize our faith in God.
All of this begs the question I suspect Greg Daniels will explore with “The Paper:” Is print journalism dead? The general consensus is “yes,” those still working in print should cut their losses and run for the hills.
Cities large and small across the country contain massive buildings that once housed their local newspaper but now stand like a ghost town.
I have heard it said about massive social transformations that inventions and tools are often most at their best just before they become obsolete.
For example, horse-drawn carriages were never more well-designed and useful than in 1908, when the first Model T Ford rolled off the assembly line, making automobiles more accessible for the average person. Is this what will happen to print?
Ten years ago, most of us would have said “yes.” But now, I’m not so sure.
Walking into a bookstore, I see mostly young people browsing the shelves. At the same time, the people I see lost in their phones at restaurants tend to be older.
Print may follow the path of the horse-drawn carriage, but I suspect it is more likely to follow the path of vinyl records.
Who would have imagined at the turn of the century that the recording industry would still have vinyl as a driver for record sales in the 2020s? Yet in 2022, the Recording Industry Association of America reported that vinyl records accounted for over $1.2 billion in sales, marking the sixteenth consecutive year of growth.
People listen to vinyl records for the same reasons they hold physical copies of reading material in their hands. They want to slow down and be deliberate about what they are consuming.
They want to escape the constant, low-level buzz that screens inflict on us. They want to pay attention, to thoughtfully consider, to experience.
Mediums such as print and vinyl will never again be dominant but will always be sought after as viable alternatives. Because of that, Good Faith Magazine will remain committed to exploring issues of faith, connecting people of faith across time and geography, and expanding our soul’s capacity for knowledge, wonder and meaning.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.
