Pop and Politics, a non-profit news source and new media training center based at USC Annenberg and active online as a blogger’s Web site, has been announced as one of only 150 official blogs credentialed to cover the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. The popular blog and e-magazine will send two of its staffers and one new addition to the DNC - a high school student journalist from San Diego.
The online version of Pop and Politics, which will host the submissions from the convention floor, currently features contributions from Annenberg journalism students in addition to both professional and amateur stringers worldwide.
The concept of the revamped P+P, which is primarily geared toward the 18-29 year-old demographic, is to give young journalists the opportunity to cover important political events while following a mandate of youth voter education with a focus on “content democracy,” according to the website. As for the upcoming convention, the editors at P+P are confident that they will add to what they call their already “earth-shattering content” on the PopandPolitics.com web page.
Writer/editor Chris Nelson (M.A. Print Journalism '09) and political analyst Max Zimbert (M.A. Print Journalism '09) hope to “cut through partisan punditry” in an effort to offer “insightful analysis outside the mainstream media echo chamber to is readers,” according to Nelson. The two will team up with a Southern California high school student who expressed an interest in helping to cover the DNC. Nelson recalled his early days as an Annenberg student and the importance of mentorship in refining his own journalism skills.
“Under the tutelage of Marc Cooper for Newswriting at Annenberg,” said Nelson, “both Max and I learned the basics from a savvy political journalist working in the field at LA Weekly and the Huffington Post during the primaries. Having both been published now on the Huffington Post's ‘Off The Bus’ section, at which Marc is the editorial director, we both look to take our political reporting to the next level by covering the DNC for Pop and Politics.”
Nelson added that, although many on the team support Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, old-fashioned journalistic objectivity will be paramount in the Pop and Politics coverage of the Convention.
“In line with most basic of journalistic tenets, we'll keep it honest,” said Nelson. "While it’s tempting to be enamored with Obama’s candidacy, we realize that the choice in front of every citizen heading to the voting booths in November is one of the most important we’ll ever face throughout the trajectory of our personal civic duty...We simply want to offer up the sharpest knife possible so that our readers can cut through the mainstream media fog with ease when making this critical decision.”
But the main focus of the USC group will be to bring news as occurs to the young online readership of Pop and Politics. Program director Kim Cooper admitted that it is an exciting time for the blog and the website in general as the Convention approaches.
“We want to be there when history happens,” Cooper said.
