Somehow the Founding Father's of Journalism didn't imagine MTV as an authority. I realize in order to 'stimulate' voters to go to the polls it can be a 'trendy' issue. Rock the vote and all that, but, in all honesty whom is going to host this 'walk on the wild side' for journalism. It is a concern that 'trends' can 'take authority' in a profession so vital to connecting people to their own authority in expressing their vote. There needs to be a moderator capacity of the profession for new venues to maintain a 'standard.'
During the 2004 US presidential campaign, MTV produced an intriguing series of news reports, documentaries, and other programming designed to educate its youthful audience about the presidential election and democratic politics. The Choose or Lose series was an unlikely discursive blend, mixing MTV's usual fare of music, celebrity, and style, with serious information, issue coverage, and social advocacy. It also experimented with the parameters of journalistic authority, combining elements drawn from a traditional paradigm of professional journalism with a variety of alternative, emergent claims to credibility, in the hope of reaching a demographic that largely has "tuned out" from news and politics. To explore the changing nature of journalistic authority as articulated on MTV News, this study first develops a theory of discursive integration - the blending of once-distinct discursive domains, standards, and styles. It then identifies five potential models of journalistic authority constructed in the Choose or Lose series. It concludes by considering the implications of discursive integration and the ongoing re-conceptualization of journalistic authority for young people's engagement with broadcast journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
