Prowling the nation,
camera phones in hand

In touching attempts to embrace tenacious users, MTV, AP and The New York Times are planning to utilize user-generated content for their election coverage.

The Times' content will be produced by PurpleStates.TV and will run in its Op-Ed section until February 5, by which many states will have held their primary elections.

Meanwhile, the AP is working with MTV's Choose or Lose campaign to build its brand with college students.

Backed by a $700,000 Knight Foundation grant for citizen journalism, the AP/MTV push involves the recruitment of 51 student journalists — one from each state and Washington, DC — to bring streetside perspectives to the political fray.

Nicknamed "Street Team '08," the students will file weekly reports in the form of "short videos, blogs, animation, photos, and podcasts." The posts will be distributed on Think.MTV, a to-be-launched MTV Mobile WAP site, and some 1,800 sites that make up AP's Online Video Network.

The effort has its critics. Perhaps concerned the MTV push may become an instance of unfruitful hype (such as the celebrity-hawked Citizen Change campaign), CMSWire writes, "it’s important that this effort — on account of its political undertakings — appeal not only to the senses, but also engage and challenge minds."