Pop and Politics has been relaunched as part of USC Annenberg's School of Journalism. The non-profit news source and new media training center provides news and information targeted to voters between the ages of 18 and 29. Its web site, popandpolitcs.com, features a cleaner, richer interface and new ways for users to interact with the site’s content.

The content changes are designed to give young people a single, compelling source for political and cultural coverage during the 2008 presidential campaign, according to Pop and Politics founder Farai Chideya (pictured). Concurrently, USC Annenberg journalism students and others will be able to use the site to publish their work and to test new tools for delivering news to a young audience.
 
“Political and cultural reporting has to be relevant to this generation in order for them to pay attention,” said Chideya. “By helping to train the next generation of journalists, Pop and Politics ensures that we reach this demographic.”
 
In addition to the feature “Decoder,” which provided coverage and analysis of the 2006 U.S. Senate election, the site promotes “Content Democracy,” allowing readers to become contributors to the content found on the site. In addition, USC Annenberg student work is featured on the site’s blog and in the “In Depth” section, which includes longer articles and multimedia essays.
 
Pop and Politics has won a number of online awards since its original launch during the 1996 elections. The project has been rated “Cool Site of the Day” and was part of PoliticsOnline.com’s survey of the “Top 25 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics.”

Read the News Release