The Narrative Continues to Change: Generation Why and Increased Coverage

Liz Brown, Columbia University undergrad and daughter of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), has an amazingly comprehensive piece at the Huffington Post covering the (historical and current) role that our generation occupies in modern American politics. She's a little shy about coming down on either side of the fence as to the ultimate role we will play in coming years (you know where I stand), but the parts comparing Gen X to our generation are particularly insightful.

Read it.

And btw - there has been some incredible coverage of Millennials lately in the political media. This article, the National Review article, and that piece in the Democratic Strategist (my response here) come to mind as the best of breed. As does Judy Woodruff's blatant plagiarizing of Millennials's Rising during an appearance on Meet the Press to promote her "Generation Next" project. It was a cringe worthy appearance, but an important milestone in giving us street cred on the political beat.

Don't get me wrong, there's still an overabundance of shitty youth articles about how we don't vote, are obsessed with pop-culture ephemera, and rising turnout is a flash in the pan (surprisingly, these frequently appear in college newspapers - something I might blog about), but the number and quality of articles that seriously report on our significance and involvement in politics is increasing. The narrative continues to change.

It would be really useful to have someone do a media scan of young voter articles comparing pre and post election coverage. I would certainly like to know who the biggest offenders are in terms of lousy coverage, as well as get a sense of how, say, the top 10 media outlets are reporting on us.