My friend Jason Pollock talks about his documentary, “The Youngest Candidate,” on CNN International, assuring the rest of the world that enthusiastic young Americans are ready to work toward diplomatic, peaceful relations abroad. Good job, JP!

“As I sat in the various sessions contemplating the extensive possibilities at our feet when bold leaders push existing boundaries, my Twitter feed continued to ding on my Blackberry with updates from Romenesko and Jay Rosen: reports of more of the same old MSM coverage of layoffs and predictable navel-gazing about election bias born of the hierarchical point-counterpoint inverted pyramid storytelling model. The irony was biting. What is a journalist if not someone who hopes to enable others with the information they need to solve the problems of our time? To connect individual citizens with their communities? Shouldn’t newspapers be the ones championing this enterprise? 

The American Press Institute is huddled behind closed doors this week in crisis mode discussing how to save the deadwood editions that still turn a profit. You have to wonder if it’s just like watching the unplugged McCain campaign be pummeled by underestimating Web 2.0 technology. Since we won’t know until they publish a report what exactly they’re talking about, I am hoping the API conversation focuses less on redesigns and marketing gimmicks, and primarily on giving advertisers incentives to pay higher CPMs and invest in the redevelopment of dynamic, 21st century newsrooms that connect the distinct expertise of reporters with the emerging wisdom of the crowd. 

This doesn’t have to be a crisis: In fact, it is a time of great opportunity for those who are willing to make big bets — and implement them.”

Full column here.

Yeah, yeah: He’s about to become a father and that makes him an adult. This was obviously a mistake, and you’d be hard pressed to find a teenager in America who doesn’t have ridiculous photos and inside jokes on their web pages.

This is a perfect example of the kinds of legislation we might face in the future surrounding privacy rights online. I’m not sure yet how this form of speech should be legally protected, but I do think it’s irresponsible for news organizations to recklessly expose the lives of teenagers, even if their parents are public figures.

For his part, Levi says the page was a joke in this AP article (via HuffPost):

Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.

For starters, he said his much-maligned MySpace page was a joke _ the one that claimed he said: “I’m a … redneck,” and “I don’t want kids.” Johnston said his friends created the page a few years ago and he had nothing to do with it.

In today’s Editor & Publisher I discuss the panel I was on at Northwestern Friday (thx Ellen Shearer for the invite!): 

“Given the inevitable fragmentation of the MSM market and the inundation of “breaking news” in our daily lives, the need for a reliable filter has never been more prevalent. In most social networks – online and offline – there is typically a handful of influencers who lead their peers in suggesting valuable news bits and facilitating activism. For better or worse, these individuals have become our default editors, aggregators and points of distribution.” Read more here.

Ted, Teresa, and I also confront the big issue of Obama’s attack ads: Will they tarnish his image in a campaign already beset with negativity? And does anyone even care about Yard-Sign-Gate (apparently, nobody can get their hands on Obama yard signs, so supporters are going it alone and printing the signs themselves). Do yard signs even have an impact? And finally, the Governator’s good times with Chong smoking weed?

From a business perspective, it appears to be a home run. Despite the collapse and resurrection of niche efforts like ESPN mobile service, the power of direct access to consumers via cell phones has skyrocketed as high as the presidential election coverage, with candidates looking to the utility-driven impact of text messaging to galvanize their get out the vote efforts in November. In every meeting I’m sitting in, every conference I attend and every company I advise, we’re talking about mobile media as the next frontier, which has already been established overseas. 

From a user perspective, however, I’m starting to experience fatigue. Although, this may mean that at the ripe old age of 28, I’m already a geezer. Read more here. 

Still, I had an interesting series of experiences this week which gave me pause regarding the logistics of election day readiness, particularly how this will play out with the first-time voters who are expected to buoy Obama’s victory.

On Saturday, my friend and I were registering voters at the USC-Ohio St. football game, and a remarkable number of students were confused about whether they are supposed to vote at home with their parents, at the dorm, or via absentee ballot. This was reinforced today when I was guest lecturing at Occidental college for a political science class. The students there also expressed concerns that the frequently-reported student enthusiasm for Obama and voting is somewhat overplayed (from his own alma mater!), and that people really are burned out on this long election process. (Check out Northwestern University’s recent Media Management Center report on this burnout, which I wrote about last week in Editor & Publisher.)

I also spoke with several low-income service employees working at the USC game who said they are concerned that they’ll be able to be away from work long enough to cast their votes. It’s alarming to consider that people will make the effort to participate, but that polling places might not be ready to accommodate them. I heard about so many instances like this during the primary election that I’m considering being a poll worker on election day as a way to help make sure that every vote gets counted. I can still remember staying up all night in November of 2000, feeling like if I just stayed awake long enough the commentators would declare that George Dub had not actually won the election and it was just a vivid nightmare.

If you are also afraid of such a scenario repeating itself during this critical election, I encourage you to get your friends and family registered to vote. My friends at Declare Yourself have a very user-friendly system that explains all you need to know. For the social networking fiends, there is also a great Facebook app called Your Revolution, which makes the process a snap.

“The thing that stood out most to me in the study was the distinction young consumers make between wanting to be informed versus wanting to follow the news. Whereas I personally enjoy following the minutia of the campaign trail as much as a zealous NFL fan watches the stats, most of my peers prefer the highlight reel. A news outlet that can provide information about major milestones in quick context resonates most.“  Read more here.

Also of interest is a 2003 study Andrew and I did at Medill with the Media Management Center about reaching young-light news consumers in Milwaukee.

Talk about audacious: To challenge a flawed system while dominating it, to oust one of the greatest Democratic establishment candidates ever, to introduce the democratizing concept of grassroots-netroots activism to the political process, to defeat racist stereotypes, to proclaim the arrival of the post-Boomer era, and to do it while staying (seemingly, at least) relatively committed to his core principles. To anyone who has been cynical about politics, this man has proved that a persistent citizen of ordinary means is capable of asserting himself in the power structure and that change (as much as I hate that vague word) is possible.

Plenty has been written deconstructing the policies he presented (loved the 10-year end of oil addiction), the atmosphere (once in a lifetime, cheesy fireworks), and the Clinton’s graciousness (they were team players). What I took from the week, and his speech in particular, was something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently: If we want to actualize the things we’re talking about, those of us who are invested in this candidacy and the set of ideas it represents must fully commit ourselves immediately to two things. GOTV (for you non-political junkies, this means “Get Out the Vote”) and Activism ‘09.

We still have two months and a tough general election to get through, and our foremost responsibility, particularly as young professionals, is to prove that our engagement is not hype by showing up at the polls on Nov. 4. Everything I’ve seen to this point indicates that this will happen, but I am committed to redoubling my efforts to make sure that all my pals are registered and working their own circles.

Beyond that, though, we have to be preparing each other for what happens after we win. 2009 is going to suck. There’s nothing sexy happening, like it was this year. Eli Manning may throw another Hail Mary to win the Super Bowl, but otherwise we’ve got no hot elections, no Olympics, etc. We’re just going to have a shitty economy, a war to end, continued high gas prices, and a lot of HOPE with no resolution. The reason the campaign has been successful is because so many people have personally invested, donating time, money, phone calls, door-walking. If we just check his name on the ballot box and go back to life as it was before, the movement will fail. I’ve been thinking about dedicating the energy I’ve given to Barack to at least a couple of the core issues I care about most after the election, and I’m trying to encourage my friends to do the same.

To give is worth it. This last year and a half has connected me with so many inspiring individuals, even in the sea of superficial starf&*#ers in Los Angeles. To have kicked off this year in Iowa, with people still telling me we were crazy to think we could do this, and to be all together in Denver this week celebrating a hard-fought victory is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever had. I’m so proud of everyone’s hard work.

Check out the Flickr gallery >> for photos or read the Twitter feed for the play-by-play of my convention experience. We’ll break things down in more detail on Wilshire & Washington Wednesday, along with thoughts from Ted’s trip to the RNC in Minneapolis. We’ll also hear from my new favorite blogger, The Nation’s Ari Melber, if he’s not jet setting around on BO’s plane.

AND, if you’ve got the stomach to process news from the RNC, I highly recommend reading Media Lizzy’s coverage. For a conservative, she’s not half bad.

“Defenders of the millennial generation’s civic engagement had some explaining to do last week after a recent Pew study indicated that a third of us don’t seek out any news on a typical day, including online media. As E&P reported when the data was released, this statistic undercuts a common argument that millennials are not turned off, they just get their news from non-traditional outlets beyond print and broadcast media.”

Read more here.