By: Joe Strupp Associated Press has joined with MTV for a new "citizen journalist" program aimed at covering the 2008 elections "from a youth perspective," according to an AP release.
?Street Team ?08? is described as "a specially recruited group of 51 citizen journalists ? one from every state and Washington, D.C. ? who will cover the 2008 elections from a youth perspective and tailor their reports for mobile devices."
[Among the recruits: former E&P intern Charles Geraci, who memorably helped cover the 2004 Republican convention for the magazine in New York City, and now will handle Utah.]
"The members will contribute weekly, multi-media reports (short form videos, blogs, animation, photos, podcasts) that will be distributed via a soon-to-launch WAP site, MTV Mobile, Think.MTV.com and to the more than 1,800 sites in the Associated Press Online Video Network," the AP release added.
Kevin Roach, AP executive producer for online video, said, ?AP is constantly adding to its already comprehensive coverage of the 2008 political campaign and this collaborative project fits in with our goal of providing an even wider range of multimedia content.?
MTV said it "carefully selected" the citizen journalists "after an extensive nationwide search," adding that "the one-of-a-kind press corps will be armed with mobile media like laptops, video cameras and cell phones, and charged with uncovering the untold political stories that matter most to young people in their respective states."
The program is being funded by a $700,000 Knight News Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Knight News Challenge is an annual worldwide competition awarding $5 million for innovative ideas that use digital media to inform and inspire communities.
?We hope to find out whether or not our most important political event ? the election of a president ? matters to young people, and whether or not it matters more when it comes to them through the lens of their issues and the screen of their cell phone,? said Eric Newton, VP/Journalism, Knight Foundation. ?We also hope to find out what important youth issues are being overlooked by traditional media as the Street Team coverage goes beyond the presidential horse race.?
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