The Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) is hosting a press forum entitled
"Asserting the Youth Voice," featuring Thomas Friedman, national best-selling author of
The World Is Flat and New York Times columnist; Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer; Eleanor Clift, contributing editor of Newsweek and a regular
panelist on The McLaughlin Group; Joe Scarborough, former U.S. Congressman and MSNBC
Anchor of Morning Joe; David Broder, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist of the Washington Post; and Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary to
President Bill Clinton.
Conventional wisdom states that "young people don't vote," citing both turnout percentages that are well behind older demographics and political pundits who brand us disinterested, disengaged, and Yet in recent elections, young people have rallied against this accepted mantra by demonstrating record turnout in both the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, and particularly, in the 2008 primaries. According to the 2007 United States Census, the 18-29 year old demographic will constitute approximately 20 percent of the eligible voting population in the next presidential election. With such a large representation in the electorate, it would seem remiss for any politician not to court us and anomalous for any reporter not to mention us. And yet, studies show that less than two percent of political news coverage mentions young people, providing glaring evidence that many journalists and media outlets still assume the accepted opinion, portraying young voters as non-voters if not ignoring the youth demographic entirely.
SAVE’s event will address this issue. We will hold a panel discussion with a number of prominent journalists from print, television, and new media and White House press secretaries who will engage in a conversation with a youth audience. The central question the panel will be asked to answer is: What can we as young voters do to make our voices heard, affirmed and recognized in the journalistic community? The audience will also have the opportunity to ask issue-focused questions of panelists.
We would appreciate your attendance at our event. Please contact us with your RSVP and any further questions at info@savevoting.org.
Conventional wisdom states that "young people don't vote," citing both turnout percentages that are well behind older demographics and political pundits who brand us disinterested, disengaged, and Yet in recent elections, young people have rallied against this accepted mantra by demonstrating record turnout in both the 2004 and 2006 federal elections, and particularly, in the 2008 primaries. According to the 2007 United States Census, the 18-29 year old demographic will constitute approximately 20 percent of the eligible voting population in the next presidential election. With such a large representation in the electorate, it would seem remiss for any politician not to court us and anomalous for any reporter not to mention us. And yet, studies show that less than two percent of political news coverage mentions young people, providing glaring evidence that many journalists and media outlets still assume the accepted opinion, portraying young voters as non-voters if not ignoring the youth demographic entirely.
SAVE’s event will address this issue. We will hold a panel discussion with a number of prominent journalists from print, television, and new media and White House press secretaries who will engage in a conversation with a youth audience. The central question the panel will be asked to answer is: What can we as young voters do to make our voices heard, affirmed and recognized in the journalistic community? The audience will also have the opportunity to ask issue-focused questions of panelists.
We would appreciate your attendance at our event. Please contact us with your RSVP and any further questions at info@savevoting.org.
