Trevor Martin (Jour, Mktg’07)
As on-site reporter for MTV’s Choose or Lose campaign at the Democratic National Convention last summer, Trevor Martin’s (Jour, Mktg’07) reporting gig wasn’t about taking notes in a traditional reporter’s notebook with an editor waiting back at the office. Rather, “it was just me with a camera and my cell,” Trevor says.
From interviewing, blogging, editing, compiling videologs and updating breaking news via mobile updates, Trevor’s job redefines citizen journalism as new-age reporting that fully engages the young generation and their savvy tools.
“As a media studies major, I studied ways that the media are not working,” Trevor says. “And I wondered if the system was not working, then how could it change? There’s a bunch of new technology out, and it’s so important to revamp business models in the face of innovation.”
Like most journalism grads looking for writing jobs out of college, he felt apprehensive about the rapidly evolving, über-competitive job market. But his passion for politics, a four-minute video clip on community members’ thoughts on voter registration and a spell-checked cover letter led to the “Hey! You’re hired!” phone call from MTV.
Started in 1990, the Choose or Lose campaign is MTV’s activism arm that covers news young voters care about, Trevor says. He mentions FDR’s New Deal, Jefferson and Adams’ 1800 race and the Lincoln inauguration, adding there was so much significance in the 2008 election that it was important for youth to be involved.
Major issues that Trevor focused on as a Colorado representative for the Choose or Lose campaign were environmental, veteran, education and immigration. With numerous sustainability initiatives, an Air Force base, universities and colleges and a decent-size immigrant population, there is much in Colorado that affects teens and 20-year-olds, he says.
“What’s most important is what matters to them,” Trevor says. “I’m concerned about what will make them vote, what makes them engaged. When they go to my website, I want them to see what matters to them.”
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