Rocking the Boat : MTV, Rock the Vote Urge Teens to Get Politically Involved

Rock music and MTV--the very entities that many parents view as the anti-Establishment nuisances that distract their teen-age children from life’s serious matters--are pushing their young fans to participate in mainstream politics.

Rock the Vote, an organization created by the music industry two years ago to combat the censorship of rock lyrics, has labored throughout this primary season to register young voters. And MTV not only has helped encourage that effort but also has been covering the candidates on the presidential trail.

“I do feel a responsibility (to get young people involved),” said Jeff Ayeroff, co-president of Virgin Records and one of the founders of Rock the Vote. “That’s the most onerous responsibility I feel. If in fact we helped unplug a generation, then we have a responsibility to plug them back in.”

While voter apathy, cynicism and disgust are rampant this year, the rap on young people is that they are even more apathetic, more cynical and more alienated than anyone else. There are more than 25 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 24, but only 50% are registered to vote and only 36% in that age group voted in the last presidential election.

A lot of them are not reading newspapers either, leading many of their elders to presume that they have little knowledge of or interest in anything beyond the scope of MTV’s dazzling images of sex and consumerism. But Tabitha Soren, MTV’s 24-year-old political reporter, disputes such a dismissal of her generation.

“Young people have bought into this idea that they don’t know enough about politics to speak out or participate,” Soren said. “But I see just the opposite every day. When I first approach to ask what’s on their minds, they say, ‘Get the camera away, I don’t want to look like an idiot.’ But once they start talking, they realize they have a lot more in their heads than they think. And then it’s, ‘Ask me about the economy. Ask me about the Gag Rule.’ No one has ever asked before.”

Officials of Rock the Vote, which operates on an annual budget of about $750,000, say they are pleased with their success in getting young people to register, although they can point to no specific election that young voters impacted in any way.

Steve Barr, co-founder of Rock the Vote, said that the organization registered 25,000 new voters on last summer’s Lollapalooza concert tour, and added about 5,000 new voters in California in the last few months. On the first weekend following the Los Angeles riots last month, Barr said, he went into the Crenshaw District and passed out thousands of voter registration cards to young African-Americans.

The sign-up campaign won’t stop with Tuesday’s California primary. Rock the Vote soon will launch a new public-service ad campaign aimed at the November elections, featuring such performers as L.L. Cool J., Michael Bolton, Dennis Miller and Dave Mustaine of Megadeath.

Soren, meanwhile, as the centerpiece of MTV’s “Choose or Lose” political coverage, has been reporting on what MTV believes to be the issues of most concern to youth--what she calls the “three E’s and the three A’s,” and she isn’t talking Eazy-E or Aerosmith.

First, she tackled education, the environment and the economy in flashily edited, four-minute reports that contrasted the various candidates’ positions. Then she moved on to abortion, AIDS and affirmative action. She also worked in a report on the opportunity for romance among young campaign volunteers.

While the principle of encouraging participation in the democratic process draws applause from political professionals, the undertaking by Rock the Vote and MTV has its critics. Some contend that MTV and the music industry are simply out to sell their own liberal agenda. Others charge that even with its new-found political consciousness, MTV is an unlikely source to prompt a memorable discussion of political affairs.

MTV is television at its most frenetic, and the juxtaposition of political reports beside videos, feature stories about rock bands and commercials, said Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media studies at Johns Hopkins University, “necessarily trivializes” politics by making it no more special, no more urgent than a teen’s next sip of Coke.

Miller said that he’d congratulate the network if its political coverage actually inspired young viewers to shut off the TV and read about the races and issues. But if it is true, as many young people tell MTV, that most of what they know about politics they glean from MTV alone, “if there are people who actually have to be told by MTV that there is an election going on,” Miller laments, “they shouldn’t be voting anyway. If they are that tuned out, let them just stay inside and worry about their Reeboks.”

Judy McGrath, MTV’s vice president and creative director, defended the network’s approach.

“I don’t believe that we are putting ourselves out there as the last word,” she said. “But we are responsibly attempting--in an informative and yet entertaining way that fits with the music culture--to talk about some of the political issues of the day. Our viewers can pick up the newspaper or watch CNN or ask questions in school. We’re just one piece in the puzzle.”

MTV and Rock the Vote also have been accused of having a left-leaning political agenda, with critics suggesting that they are not only encouraging young people to vote, but also mixing in “how to vote” as well.

“There is an inferred agenda here and that agenda tends to be extreme or out of touch with mainstream America,” said Nicholas Thimmesch II, media director for Republican Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn, who blasted MTV for advocating “environmental extremist messages” on global warming and nuclear power.

Ayeroff and Soren deny the charge of bias. Ayeroff said that many of the 8,000 people Rock the Vote registered just before the New Hampshire primary supported conservative Pat Buchanan and some new registrants have favored former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Donna Lucas, a Republican political consultant, said that the party ought to look on Rock the Vote and MTV as an opportunity. “If that is the venue that is reaching out to America’s youth, Republicans should start getting with it and develop a way to cut through the rhetoric and speak to them,” she said.

Kelly Kimball, who works to qualify petition-driven ballot measures, praised Rock the Vote for creating an awareness among young people and making voting “cool.” But he cautioned that unless these new voters see something pressing to vote for, many will simply stay home on election day.

“Middle-age and older people vote because there are pocket-book issues like taxes that affect them directly,” echoed Jeff Weir, spokesman for Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.). “It would be healthy if young people voted and opened up the spectrum of ideas, but in the absence of bread-and-butter issues or a specific candidate to vote for, the fact that you’re registered doesn’t mean squat.”

Rock the Vote officials contend that young people do share concern about some issues with their elders, such as racism, abortion, the environment and jobs. But they insist that only when the young prove they’re willing to vote in large numbers will politicians specifically speak to their interests.

“Many 20-year-olds might already have their opinions set, but the 12- or 13-year-olds, if every time they turn around, they are hit with the message that the only way to have a voice is to vote, those are our real targets,” Barr said. “Now there are two milestones to look forward to as you grow up: 16 to drive and 21 to drink. We intend to add 18 and the right to vote to that.”