Spring Break
URI graduate joins MTV's Choose or Lose team as citizen journalist
Joe Markman
Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: News
His biggest pet peeve is intellectual dishonesty, which is why he now prefers journalism to politics. Along with running the R.I. Report Web site, Shevlin works for East Bay Newspapers, which owns The Sakonnet Times and Newport This Week, among others.
His position as a citizen journalist for MTV has provided Shevlin with the ability to promote political awareness to young people in Rhode Island.
"Nowhere is local news more important than in Rhode Island," he said.
In New Hampshire, the youth block made a huge impact on the results of the primaries, Shevlin said. Young people, especially college students, took an active role in registering voters, creating signs and making phone calls.
Shevlin's career ambition is to make headlines and have a broad influence by going into a town like Kingston, R.I. and finding an issue that people are talking about. He said he is proud of his participation in the Choose or Lose initiative because he believes it has been incredibly influential in getting over 20 million young people registered to vote for the 2004 presidential campaign and inspiring millions more to get involved in politics.
MTV, as one of the most widely-recognized global brand for youth, has the ability to reach out to its audience via the technology they use every day, said Shevlin. The Associated Press, a partner of Choose or Lose, can send videos that MTV's citizen journalists have created to mainstream news Web sites around the country. In addition, cell phone users can sign up to receive videos directly on their phones.
Shevlin's profile on think.mtv.com stresses thinking. He writes that it's important to think about things that actually matter, not just which celebrity is in rehab or pregnant. And he hopes that his involvement with the Choose or Lose initiative will not only force him to think, but also inspire others to do the same.
His position as a citizen journalist for MTV has provided Shevlin with the ability to promote political awareness to young people in Rhode Island.
"Nowhere is local news more important than in Rhode Island," he said.
In New Hampshire, the youth block made a huge impact on the results of the primaries, Shevlin said. Young people, especially college students, took an active role in registering voters, creating signs and making phone calls.
Shevlin's career ambition is to make headlines and have a broad influence by going into a town like Kingston, R.I. and finding an issue that people are talking about. He said he is proud of his participation in the Choose or Lose initiative because he believes it has been incredibly influential in getting over 20 million young people registered to vote for the 2004 presidential campaign and inspiring millions more to get involved in politics.
MTV, as one of the most widely-recognized global brand for youth, has the ability to reach out to its audience via the technology they use every day, said Shevlin. The Associated Press, a partner of Choose or Lose, can send videos that MTV's citizen journalists have created to mainstream news Web sites around the country. In addition, cell phone users can sign up to receive videos directly on their phones.
Shevlin's profile on think.mtv.com stresses thinking. He writes that it's important to think about things that actually matter, not just which celebrity is in rehab or pregnant. And he hopes that his involvement with the Choose or Lose initiative will not only force him to think, but also inspire others to do the same.
