The job of each Street Team '08 member is to determine what is important to youth in their states, and get young people engaged in the political process by reporting on those issues all year long, leading up to the national elections. Often, the issues around local elections - whether it be a controversy over rising state school tuition or a local zoning law - are much more likely to awaken youth participation in politics than rhetoric spun by politicians during campaign stops.

You can see all of the reports on www.chooseorlose.com.
But here a sampling of stories where Street Team '08 writers have reported on the local issues of most importance to young people within their state:

CA, Carl Brown, Save Trestles"

IL, Jacqueline Ingles, Wrigley­ Field --­ The­ Name­ Change­ is­ Striking­ Out

MI, Nadir Omowale, Loving Detroit, Leaving Detroit, Part I -- Detroit's Daughter

FL, Anthony Wojtkowiak, Margaritaville -- Wasting Away?

SC, Shantel Middleton, Welcome to Whitehall

MS, Haley Crum, Mississippi­ vs.­ Katrina --­ Still­ fighting­ the­ fight

RI, Tom Shevlin, Sparking a debate on tolerance

PA, Cassidy Hartmann, Public Enemy Heats Up Philly

DE, Stephanie Woods, Bluewater is the New Green

WI, Charlie Berens, Box City: Sleepout '08

ME, Jaime McLeod, Ban the Bulb?

"Thank you for letting me be a part of that historic event yesterday. The Street Team did a great job with the reporting but I think the biggest story of all was all of us, broadcasting live to the web and in each of the 23 Super Tuesday states. I mean that's just amazing, and so many people were so impressed by the fact that whatever I shot was going live to the web. Not to mention that the map was just really cool! Traditional media certainly has something to fear, and that's what new media is all about. So, again, thank you for the chance to be involved."
Kyle, Massachusetts Street Team '08 Member (http://think.mtv.com/profile/kyledeb_Think/User/Blog/BlogView.aspx)

"A cameraman from one of the big networks came up to me and said, "Are you reporting?" And I said, "Yeah, I am!" And he said, "How? And I said [pointing at camera phone], "This is live to web, sir." New technology, kids - pretty cool."
Sara, New York Street Team '08 Member (http://think.mtv.com/profile/SaraBenincasaNY/User/Blog/BlogView.aspx)

Super Tuesday was an historic day with incredible youth turnout at the polls (doubling, tripling and even quadrupling turnout from 2000 & 2004!) and so we were making our own history at MTV covering the youth vote in a whole new way - in this case, capitalizing on a new achievement in mobile technology, delivering real-time high-quality Internet-ready audio and video reporting from the campaign trail.

On February 5th Super Tuesday, when more than 20 states held a primary or caucus, the MTV/Knight army of state-based Street Team '08 citizen journalists covered the youth vote like no one else, delivering the first-ever live mobile-to-web broadcasts - from polling stations, caucuses, candidate rallies and everywhere young voters congregated in the February 5th Super Tuesday states.

The real time, on-the-spot reports were streamed live all day from correspondents' video-equipped mobile phones to www.ChooseorLose.com. Throughout the day, MTV regularly broke into programming and showcased news featurettes excerpted from the live reports. The effort was part of MTV's Emmy-winning "Choose or Lose" campaign.

To put all this in context, we have to flashback to 2 ½ weeks ago prior to Super Tuesday. when MTV wireless guru Michael Scogin introduced a fun new toy, a cell phone that could broadcast live to the internet with almost no delay. "Wouldn't it be cool to equip our Street Teamers in all the Super Tuesday states with those phones" we asked, "and wouldn't it be even cooler if we could take over the website with an interface that would allow users to access all of that content - in real time - in a comprehensive and easily discoverable fashion?" Indeed it would. So that's what we did, building an interactive map at www.ChooseorLose.com that notified users when the citizen journalists were broadcasting live from one of the Super Tuesday states.

The Choose or Lose Street Team '08 citizen journalists used Nokia N95 devices, fully-fledged multimedia computers with a leading-class 5 megapixel camera and dvd-like quality video camera capabilities that allow them to create, edit and upload their stories instantly to the Internet. An innovative application, provided by Flixwagon, powered the mobile broadcasting technology by allowing anyone with a capable 3G phone to stream live video to the Internet and store it for later viewing.

But as I started this blog entry, the best perspectives come from the Street Team members themselves:

- http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A04C00080098D195/User/Blog/BlogPostDetail.aspx

- http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A04000170098D1F6/

- http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A11400170098D218/

MTV's mobile phone-to-Web efforts on Super Tuesday are an element of its "Choose or Lose '08" campaign to engage, educate and empower young voters. A major component of this year's campaign is the "MTV Street Team '08" - 51 state-based citizen journalists who contribute weekly, multimedia reports (such as short form videos, blogs, animation, photos, podcasts) that are distributed via WAP site m.StreetTeam08.com, carriers in the MTV Mobile family, the Think Community (Think.MTV.com) and several other media platforms, including the Associated Press Online Video Network.

MTV TAPS 51 STATE-BASED CITIZEN JOURNALISTS FOR "CHOOSE OR LOSE '08"

AP Online Video Network & Top Mobile Carriers to Distribute Weekly "Street Team '08" Reports

Knight Foundation Grant Helps Power Mobile Media Election Coverage Experiment

December 20, 2007 - New York, NY - MTV, as part of its Emmy-winning "Choose or Lose" campaign (www.ChooseorLose.com), today unveiled "Street Team '08": 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. 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. Carefully selected by MTV after an extensive nationwide search, 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.

"Street Team '08" members represent every aspect of today's youth audience - from seasoned student newspaper journalists to documentary filmmakers, the children of once-illegal immigrants to community organizers. They are conservative, liberal, from big cities and small towns. The tie that binds them all is a passion for politics and a yearning to amplify the youth voice during this pivotal election. All of the "Street Team '08" correspondents will begin reporting early next month, after an intensive MTV News orientation in New York City.

"Recent MTV research shows young people believe their generation will be a major force in determining who is elected in the upcoming local and national elections," said Ian Rowe, VP of Public Affairs and Strategic Partnership, MTV, "and Street Team '08 will be a key way for our audience to connect with peers, as well as get informed and engaged on the local and political issues that matter to them most. We're proud to join with the Knight Foundation on this innovative experiment - which will also explore how coverage of youth-centric election issues can be an effective pathway to increased youth voter turnout and greater political and civic engagement."

The "Street Team '08" program is made possible by a $700,000 Knight News Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Knight News Challenge, at www.newschallenge.org, is an annual worldwide competition awarding $5 million for innovative ideas that use digital media to inform and inspire communities. The Knight Foundation plans to invest at least $25 million over five years in the search for bold community news experiments.

"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 if 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."

In addition to laptops and video cameras, each "Street Team" member will be equipped with best-in-breed tools that will aid in their reporting. Adobe Systems Incorporated is the exclusive software partner for the program, and as part of its Adobe Youth Voices global philanthropy program fostering youth self-expression, the company is outfitting each "Street Team" member with a copy of the Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Production Premium package - a complete post-production solution, integrating Adobe's all-new video, audio and design tools. PNY Technologies, a leading supplier of memory modules, flash media, USB drives, graphic cards and other peripherals, and the official flash memory provider of MTV's Street Team '08, is donating high-end SD cards and USB flash drives for all of the correspondents.

A collaboration with the Associated Press will bring select "Street Team '08" reports to AP's Online Video Network, which encompasses more than 1,800 media sites with an aggregate reach of 61 million unique visitors. "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," said Executive Producer for Online Video Kevin Roach.

All 51 of the "Street Team" members have active profiles on Think.MTV.com - MTV's online community where young people, their friends and some of the biggest names in pop culture come together to bring about positive social change. The Think community, a dedicated WAP site, video services from the industry-leading carriers in the MTV Mobile family and the Associated Press' Online Video Network will be the primary platforms for the correspondents' reports. Select stories will also be showcased on other MTV platforms, including MTV, broadcast to 88 million subscribers domestically, MTV2, mtvU and MTV Tr3́s.

The Think Community (Think.MTV.com) is dynamic, multimedia-driven and enables youth to easily learn more about the issues that matter to them most, share their opinions - via uploaded online videos, podcasts and blogs - and connect with others to make a difference. The site is one of the only to reward members for positive actions taken online or off, serving up chances to hang out with socially conscious celebs, access to exclusive MTV events, exposure on MTV and other national media outlets, as well as grants, scholarships and more. Think.MTV.com was built with the help of financial support and expertise from founding partners the Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation and MCJ Amelior Foundation. For more information or to build a profile and become involved, visit Think.MTV.com.

The 51 "MTV Choose or Lose Street Team '08" citizen journalists are:
State First Name Last Name Homepage
AK Dani Carlson http://think.mtv.com/alaskadani/
AL David Whiteside http://think.mtv.com/David_Whiteside/
AR Patrick Kennedy http://think.mtv.com/PatrickKennedy/
AZ Nicole Fagin http://think.mtv.com/nicolefagin/
CA Carl Brown http://think.mtv.com/CorduroyNews/
CO Trevor Martin http://think.mtv.com/Trevino180/
CT Megan Budnick http://think.mtv.com/MeganMinus/
DC Erica Anderson http://think.mtv.com/EricaAmerica/
DE Stephanie Woods http://think.mtv.com/StrongAllAlongStephanie/
FL Anthony Wojtkowiak http://think.mtv.com/mediaforchange/
GA Shelby Highsmith http://think.mtv.com/shelbinator/
HI Angela Wood http://think.mtv.com/angelawood/
IA Nathan Stienstra http://think.mtv.com/NathanLeigh/
ID Brian Rich http://think.mtv.com/BrianTRich/

...continues...

State First Name Last Name Homepage
IL Jacqueline Ingles http://think.mtv.com/Jingles/
IN Whitney Allen http://think.mtv.com/whallen/
KS Alex Parker http://think.mtv.com/AlexParker/
KY Lauren Snowden http://think.mtv.com/blueinthebluegrass/
LA Phillip Rollins http://think.mtv.com/prollins/
MA Kyle de Beausset http://think.mtv.com/kyledeb_Think/
MD Kristen Teraila http://think.mtv.com/Kristen_Think/
ME Jaime McLeod http://think.mtv.com/jmcleod76/
MI Nadir Omowale http://think.mtv.com/Nadir/
MN Carissa Jackson http://think.mtv.com/CarissaJ/
MO Steven Smith http://think.mtv.com/theroyale/
MS Haley Crum http://think.mtv.com/hacrum/
MT K'Lynn Sloan http://think.mtv.com/KLynn_MT/
NC Carla Babb http://think.mtv.com/Cbabb/
ND Emily Catalano http://think.mtv.com/catalano324/
NE Jane Fleming Kleeb http://think.mtv.com/janeflemingkleeb/
NH Lauren Sausser http://think.mtv.com/laurensausser/
NJ Sia Nyorkor http://think.mtv.com/TheSweetestThing/
NM Christine Begay http://think.mtv.com/xinemb/
NV Michael Gonzales http://think.mtv.com/MiGoNev/
NY Sara Benincasa Donnelly http://think.mtv.com/SaraBenincasa1/
OH Joel Hanek http://think.mtv.com/jhanek/
OK Jill Penuel http://think.mtv.com/jillpenuel/
OR Joaquin Ramon Herrera http://think.mtv.com/Nezua/
PA Cassidy Hartmann http://think.mtv.com/Cassidy_Think/
RI Tom Shevlin http://think.mtv.com/rireport/
SC Shantel Middleton http://think.mtv.com/ShantelM/
SD Jonna Langston http://think.mtv.com/joleah13/
TN Dustin Ogdin http://think.mtv.com/dustin7/
TX Maira Garcia http://think.mtv.com/mairalg/
UT Charles Geraci http://think.mtv.com/cgeraci25/
VA Sabina Thaler http://think.mtv.com/VASabina/
VT Dustin Degree http://think.mtv.com/ddegreevt/
WA Cory Midgarden http://think.mtv.com/Cory_Think/
WI Charlie Berens http://think.mtv.com/CharlieB/
WV Griffin McElroy http://think.mtv.com/griffinmcelroy/
WY Nick Perkins http://think.mtv.com/WesternRebel1/

ABOUT THE KNIGHT FOUNDATION
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invests in journalism excellence worldwide and in the vitality of the U.S. communities. Since 1950 the foundation has granted more than $300 million to advance quality journalism and freedom of expression. It focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP. On the Net: www.ap.org.

ABOUT PNY TECHNOLOGIES
As one of the largest memory chip manufacturers in the country, PNY earned the reputation as a leading manufacturer and supplier of a full line of memory upgrade modules, Flash Media Cards, USB Flash drives, portable hard drives and graphics accelerator cards for consumers and professional workstation applications.

PNY products are used by a number of Fortune 500 OEM customers for applications that range from high-end computing and Internet/telecommunications infrastructure equipment to desktop, notebook and network servers. Moreover, PNY's Microsoft Vista compatible products provides adopters of the new Windows operating system with enhanced user productivity, faster program load times, and crisp, vibrant photos and videos.

ABOUT MTV NETWORKS
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 130 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services. The network also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

###

CONTACTS:

MTV
Jason Rzepka
Jason.Rzepka@mtvstaff.com
(212) 654-7198

Jennifer DeGuzman
Jennifer.DeGuzman@mtvstaff.com
(212) 846-7175

Knight Foundation
Marc Fest
fest@knightfdn.org
(305) 908-2677, Cell: (305) 604-9500

The Associated Press
Jack Stokes
jstokes@ap.org
(212) 621-1720

More than any time in human history, young people have more tools at their avail to consume - and create - information on the issues that are most relevant to them. So to figure out exactly what MTV's approach would be to truly engage young people aged 18-30 during this Presidential election cycle in this new, Wild West era of self-publishing and self-organization, we first had to listen to what young people themselves said they wanted.

The results were simultaneously disheartening and hopeful, in the way only young people can express themselves about their future. The MTV/CBS News/New York Times Poll revealed that younger Americans have a bleak view about their own future and the direction the country is heading: 70 percent said the country was on the wrong track, while 48 percent said they feared that their generation would be worse off than their parents'. But the survey also found that this generation knows their power: 77 percent said they thought their votes would have a great bearing on who became the next president.

By any measure, the poll suggests that young Americans are anything but apathetic about the Presidential election. Fifty-eight percent said they were paying attention to the campaign. By contrast, at this point in the 2004 presidential campaign, only 35 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they were paying a lot or some attention to the campaign. And these projected 2008 numbers followed actual record youth voter turnout: In 2006, 10 million 18-29 year-olds voted than in 2002 midterms (2 MM+ increase - largest youth turnout in at least 20 years in congressional elections.)

So clearly young people are ready to participate because they know how important the stakes are. Elections are no longer an abstract concept. Whatever their position on the decisions of the current Administration over the last seven years, it has become crystal clear to young people that who is elected as President matters and has consequences.

But the message we heard over and over and over from young people was resounding, and that was that: None of the candidates are speaking to the national and local issues they care about most; nor are they speaking in a language nor from a youth perspective that reflects the realities of being a young person in today's world; nor are the candidates or major news media outlets communicating with them on the bevy of mobile devices that they use every single day. What to do.

Well, why not create an ARMY of journalists, 51 of them in fact - one in each state and in DC, who would do just that; who would be responsible for reporting on the issues of importance to young people within that respective state. An impassioned, investigative, and incredible cadre of journalists that will break stories that are not being covered by the mainstream media at all, or that will cover mainstream stories from a youth perspective. AND they will cover stories that will be accessible on mobile devices, online, on-air - indeed, on every media platform that young people are already using.

So that's what we've been doing. MTV's Choose or Lose has spent the last few months recruiting a powerful array of young journalists who, when final selections are completed in about a month, will be undergoing training and other development to form the nucleus of our 2008 election coverage. We are tremendously excited at the stories they will uncover, and most importantly, at informing and hopefully unleashing other young people to realize they have the power to tell their stories as well.

This will be a grand experiment of how to stimulate young people to use the new media tools available to actually achieve a more participatory democracy.

We're ready for an exciting year.