Plastic Satire and Mockumentary: An Intersectional Analysis of Women Journalists in NBC's The Paper

This study examines the portrayal of women journalists in the NBC mockumentary sitcom The Paper (2025-present), a spin-off of The Office set in a struggling local newsroom. We investigate how the first season negotiates race, gender, and professional identity within a postracial and colorblind discursive framework. Our findings reveal that despite featuring a racially diverse cast, the series most closely aligns with Warner's concept of “plastic representation” by rendering its female characters’ actual racial backgrounds invisible in its mockumentary satire format, which we dub “plastic satire.” The Paper also relies on racialized and gendered tropes to ultimately undermine the professional identities of women journalists represented on-screen by depicting their expertise as faked or improvised, subordinating them to male counterparts, and recycling the “horrible female boss” trope. While the mockumentary format holds transgressive potential for social critique, The Paper serves as a “plastic satire” and fails to problematize inaccurate and harmful representations of women journalists.