Attention young political junkies! As the Democratic National Convention approaches, don’t think the big news networks will be the only ones peddling your political fix. MTV is looking to take over as the pusherman on the Gen Y electorate, and in Colorado, recent CU graduate Trevor Martin will be its main information-dispensing agent.
In an attempt to engage youth voters, MTV has forgone the road of traditional journalism by enrolling a fleet of 51 citizen journalists to staff its presidential election coverage entity/ultimatum: Choose or Lose (not to be confused with P. Diddy’s more menacing election ultimatum Vote or Die), which gained prominence the last time a Clinton was on the ballot.
Dubbed The Street Team '08, this project will be staffed with delegates from each state, plus an additional Washington D.C. reporter. After winning statewide competitions for the coveted title of MTV correspondent, and completing an initial orientation at MTV’s New York headquarters, each citizen journalist is responsible for weekly posts on MTV’s social activism website MTVthink.com. These freshly trained reporters will follow election issues of their choosing, picking and choosing what they think will resonate most with their demographic, one often associated more closely with apathy than activism.
In Colorado, Trevor Martin has been put to task monitoring the political climate in anticipation of the DNC in August. Martin, who holds degrees in both marketing and media studies is no stranger to the world of politics or investigative journalism. In his junior year at CU, Martin represented the University of Colorado Student Union as its director of public relations, serving as the spokesperson for the student body’s elected officials on issues ranging from budget cuts to battling college republicans who opposed mandatory campus diversity training.
When interviewed by the University of Colorado News Services Martin divulged his excitement at juggling his new responsibilities at MTV, "I'll be doing a whole litany of things, including broadcasting, blogging, vlogging ... and covering the Democratic National Convention. I like to say I'll be a one-man band. -- Adam Gildar
