MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO UNIVERSITY SATELLITE SEMINAR SERIES, THE: MTV'S CHOOSE OR LOSE AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE YOUTH VOTE {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. Held in New York and moderated by CBS News anchor Brianna Keilar, this seminar explores the role of youths in the upcoming election and MTV's Choose of Lose voter turnout campaign. With less than half of voters between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four going to the polls for the 2000 presidential race, increasing young voter turnout has been the focus of many nonpartisan groups concerned about the health of American democracy. In 1992 MTV spearheaded an effort to increase civic engagement and voter turnout with its ongoing Choose or Lose campaign. The network continues to inform young voters about the political process by working with voter awareness groups, both seasoned (Rock the Vote and Youth Vote Coalition) and new (Declare Yourself and New Voters Project). This seminar, on the evening of the first presidential debate, surveys the history of the youth vote, examines the issues young people are concerned about, and assesses whether voter-mobilization efforts have been successful. Stuart N. Brotman, president of The Museum of Television & Radio, begins by welcoming the audience, which includes students from colleges and universities that are watching the seminar via satellite.
He introduces Keilar who presents a highlight tape featuring clips from MTV's "20 Million Loud" campaign, featuring appearances by such celebrities as P. Diddy, Bill O'Reilly, Walter Cronkite, and Drew Barrymore. After the tape, Matt Catapano, MTV's director of research & planning, takes the stage to briefly discuss the latest "Choose or Lose" statistics as well as to dispell some myths about the youth vote. Then, the panelists join Keilar on stage: Ian Rowe, MTV's vice-president of strategic and public affairs; Rosario Dawson, actress and co-founder of Voto Latino; Ben Ferguson, radio talk show host and a Bush/Cheney campaign representative; Alexis McGill, executive director of Citizen Change; and Daniel Cruise, a Kerry/Edwards campaign representative. (Panelist biographies immediately follow this summary.) Rowe opens by talking about how young voter apathy can be combatted. Then, both Ferguson and Cruise discuss what their respective candidates are doing to garner the youth vote. Each panelist also talks about the different voting factors between the 2000 and 2004 election and important issues for youths. A student from Brigham Young University asks how minority youths can overcome voter apathy. A student from Towson University asks a question that leads to a discussion about how the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks may have affected the youth vote. Next, clips are shown from MTV political correspondent Gideon Yago's recent trip to Iraq. Afterward, students from such colleges as the University of North Texas and SUNY New Paltz ask questions which lead to a discussion of the following topics: counter-mobilization efforts to discourage voting; addressing the young homosexual demographic; campaign tactics to get out the youth vote; and fear being used to blind youth.
Biographies Daniel Cruise is a managing director in the management consulting firm Clark & Weinstock. Before this, he spent four years with the Clinton administration as assistant press secretary for foreign affairs and as director of public affairs for the National Security Council. Cruise also worked at the Department of Commerce as director of public affairs for the International Trade Commission. Before joining the Clinton administration, he monitored the Dayton Accords as an election officer in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Rosario Dawson is an actress and cofounder of Voto Latino, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to motivating Latino youth to participate in the political process. She helped launch (and starred in) a series of bilingual public service announcements featuring Latino celebrities. Dawson has also starred in the films "Kids," "The 25th Hour," and "The Rundown." Her new film, "Alexander," will appear this November.
Ben Ferguson is host of the nationally syndicated program "The Ben Ferguson Show." On the air since he was thirteen years old, Ferguson is committed to energizing future generations' interest in politics. In September he appeared at the Republican National Youth Convention and has been a guest on such television news programs as "The Abrams Report," "Wolf Blitzer Reports," and "The O'Reilly Factor." Ferguson recently published the book "It's My America Too."
Brianna Keilar is the anchor for CBS News on mtvU, where she reports news-making events from around the world, the country, and on college campuses. As a reporter for MTV's new college network, she has brought a youthful perspective to the stories college students are concerned about, including the music downloading controversy, the war in Iraq, the New Hampshire primaries, and the Democratic and Republican conventions. Before joining CBS News, Keilar was the education reporter and fill-in anchor at KIMA-TV in Yakima, Washington.
Alexis McGill is the executive director of Citizen Change, a nonpartisan voter education and mobilization organization founded by hip-hop artist Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Before joining Citizen Change, she served as political director at the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and was visiting professor in the Center for African-American Studies at Wesleyan University.
In his role as vice president of strategic partnerships and public affairs at MTV, Ian Rowe oversees the network's on-air and off-air pro-social campaigns, including the Choose or Lose voter awareness campaign. Before joining MTV, he was the director of strategy and performance measurement for the president's volunteer initiative USA Freedom Corps, as well as founder and president of the media consulting firm Third Millennium Media.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundations.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: September 30, 2004 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:30:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:83873
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Stuart N. Brotman … Host
- Brianna Keilar … Moderator
- Matt Catapano … Guest
- Daniel Cruise … Panelist
- Rosario Dawson … Panelist
- Ben Ferguson … Panelist
- Alexis McGill … Panelist
- Ian Rowe … Panelist
- Drew Barrymore
- George W. Bush
- Dick Cheney
- Comb, Sean (See also: "P. Diddy," "Puff Daddy," "Puffy")
- Walter Cronkite
- John Edwards
- John Kerry
- Bill O'Reilly
- Gideon Yago