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The New Campaign Media Frontier

Add MTV to the list of citizen media innovators in the 2008 campaign. The music network that made "Choose or Lose" a part of the political vocabulary is recruiting young folks from every state and the District of Columbia to write stories, produce online videos and take photos on the campaign trail.

The effort is being underwritten in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. MTV won a $700,000 grant for the mobile youth journalists in the Knight News Challenge

Here are more details from an MTV press release (via techRepublican):

Ideal candidates will have their fingers on the pulse of issues that are important to young people in their states and be passionate about politics and the possibilities of new technology. Strong writing and reporting skills are a must. A distinctive voice and an authoritative point of view? Even better.

We'll load you up with some production gear and bring you to MTV's headquarters in New York City for orientation. In return, you will be expected to work in a paid, part-time capacity to file video, written or photographic stories weekly throughout the election year. Your pieces will be posted online and spread to mobile devices -- and the top stories will be broadcast on [MTV channels] each week.

MTV's team will focus on the campaign next year, with the citizen journalists working in their states from January to November, but similar efforts by old and new media already are under way.

In June, National Journal announced a partnership with NBC to hire "campaign embeds" for the primary season. The Huffington Post and journalism professor Jay Rosen of PressThink also are building a team of citizen journalists and professional mentors at a site called OffTheBus.

All of which makes this an exciting campaign cycle for people who want to report political news. Every journalism student with a passion for politics who is set to graduate in 2008 or 2009 should try to hitch their wagons to one of these innovation convoys. They may well be the best way to stake a claim on the new media frontier.

Posted by Danny | 02:36 PM

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