A non-partisan guide aimed at helping first-time voters navigate their first trip to the polls next month is available online and can be accessed through the Chippewa Valley Post website.
The guide was written by Paula M. Poindexter, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas. It is sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the national professional organization for university-level educators in those fields.
Poindexter said in an email that no outside organizations or individuals provided financial support for the Voters Guide.
Poindexter geared the guide to be released on Oct. 2 this year, the fifth annual observance of News Engagement Day. That day – which falls each year on the first Tuesday in October – is aimed at combating declining public interest in and use of the news media.
It is also intended to increase public understanding about the role of journalism and the way it operates. Poindexter established the first News Engagement Day while serving as the 2013-14 AEJMC president.
The Voters Guide is intended, in its own words, to help potential voters “navigate voting for the first time while stressing the importance of engaging with credible news to learn about the candidates and issues.” It “explains everything one needs to know to register, get informed, and cast a vote.”
One of its six sections is a lengthy one on using news media and other sources to get “informed about the candidates and issues.” Although the guide says it is aimed in particular at Millennials and members of Generation Z, it notes that the information in this section “will benefit all voters, regardless of age.”
(Although there is no consensus on the exact range of birth years that make up those two groups, they are generally regarded as encompassing people born starting in the early 1980s.)
Poindexter discussed the development of the Voters Guide with representatives of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the High School Reporting Labs of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Both were strongly supportive of the idea.
Students in the reporting labs will be producing stories on young voters between now and the Nov. 6 election day, some of which may air on the weeknight “PBS NewsHour” before the election.
The publication can be accessed, and downloaded, through the News Engagement Day website at http://www.newsengagement.org/first-time-voters-guide/.
Note: we appreciate the assistance of Wisconsin Public Radio in calling attention to the availability of the Voters Guide.