Connecting On Their iPod...

This morning, if you happened to catch it, occurred a telling example of how the traditional media is at a loss to report on or explain the youth vote. Andrea Mitchell, of NBC news, who is a credible reporter and gifted individual was on with Joe Scarborough.

[His program, Morning Joe, is really the best political news broadcast in the morning. Far better than the recipe-giving, Britney Spears-reporting shows like GMA and TODAY.]

During the discussion with the ever strident Chris Mathews regarding the youth vote and this fall's presidential campaign, Mitchell uttered the following:

"...connecting on their iPods and every other which way they read the blogs."

Huh?

It was easy to miss for some I suppose, but it stood out to me. In a country where the last two elections have been remarkably close, and just a small increase in turnout could aid either candidate, McCain or Obama, this is a critical issue.

We've already seen hundreds of thousands of young voters turn out in the Democratic primaries, mostly for Senator Obama, but some for the other candidates as well. No one can be assured what the turnout will look like this fall. With the first african american candidate on the general election ballot, and one who is spending millions to register and draw voters under the age of 30 to vote, it is impossible to predict.

So I'm happy that MSNBC is discussing this phenomenon, but perhaps someone else should be talking about it? Maybe Andrea Mitchell even owns an iPod, but it seems apparent that she doesn't know how to work it. Maybe she meant iPhone? Either way, having a 61 year old discuss the youth vote makes a much sense as having Jay Leno give a physics lecture. She, and most of the other traditional media, have no idea what motivates these new voters.

They don't grasp how technology doesn't impact them, it is them. This new generation doesn't wait to be told what to think or how to vote by talking-head pundits, they read the news from various sources, and filter it themselves. Sometimes that means Drudge Report, sometimes it means the New York Times and yes, even The Daily Show.

These voters know that the news they are getting is skewed, that they have no "Uncle" Walter Cronkite whose newscast they can trust. They use news aggregators, blogs and direct source reporting to find out what they want to know, not wait on the six o'clock news. This makes the younger voters much less predictable, and harder to pigeon hole into a neat political category.

So, perhaps MSNBC and all of the media outlets should look at having someone who is actually a younger voter, or even someone who understands them, do the talking when it comes to this new issue. I'm free, if anyone is looking...