Mike Connery, founder of Music for America and youth engagement guru, just posted a very interesting
blog entry on the mainstream media and how it deals with young people and voting. As he asked, I enjoyed it and am now spreading it widely... so I also say, enjoy, spread widely. And comment. I look forward to the debate.
It's getting rather tiring, correcting one shoddy media report on the youth vote after another. This really came to a head this weekend when, less than 24 hours after forcing a young UNLV student to ask Hillary Clinton whether she preferred Diamonds or Pearls, CNN un-ironically aired a piece during The Situation Room that made a mockery of young voters and their participation in our electoral process
So I created this "cheat sheet" for journalists. Basically it's a listing of all the most common mistakes that the media makes when reporting on young voters. Enjoy. Spread widely.
Last weekend was the 5th annual Fighting Bob Fest in Wisconsin, and this year's theme was "Holding Them Accountable." (If you don't know the story of Fighting Bob LaFollette, take a minute to read this.)
I wasn't at the event, but I did read a great speech given by Mike McCabe, who heads up the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
Mike says:
Holding them accountable also means spelling out what we're holding them accountable for. We need to list our demands....
I start by wishing for things that are fundamental but which we cannot take for granted. If we ever thought we could before, we sure know better now.
...I wish for peace. I wish for justice. I wish for democracy. I wish for an end to privilege. ...I wish [politicians] would realize the difference between doing what's legal and doing what's right. ...I wish concern for the common good wasn't so uncommon. ... I wish we'd all see how wrong it is to make it easier for government to watch citizens and harder for citizens to watch the government. ...I wish free speech wasn't so blasted expensive.
Mike goes on to invite us to add to his list of wishes. Here are a couple of mine. I wish the news media would give us less of what they think we need, and more of what we actually need. I wish politics was less about choosing sides and more about finding middle ground solutions.
What do you wish for?
Common Blog
