Temple’s announcement of its recent participation in the Next Mayor project has the potential for student journalists to be involved in Philadelphia’s most important election of 2015.
The School of Media and Communication’s Center for Public Interest Journalism released the official statement that it would be collaborating with nextmayor.philly.com last week with help from the work of students in the undergraduate-level journalism classes and Philadelphia Neighborhoods.
The website will serve as culmination of all news related to the November election with collaborated reporting with the Inquirer, Daily News, Philly.com, WHYY/Newsworks, 900-AM WURD and Committee and Young Involved Philadelphia – two community groups. The website was made possible with a $350,000 grant from the Wyncote Foundation.
Students will be immersed in covering an election that could determine plenty about the city’s future. Currently, there’s six candidates in the running with the primary election scheduled on May 19.
In addition, it’ll give students the opportunity to possibly remedy an issue that Philadelphia has historically struggled with – lack of voter turnout. According to the City Commissioner’s office, only 19 percent of registered voters casted a ballot in the last mayoral race. That’s compared to 71 percent in the 1987 election.
For students to be able to feature their work on a platform that already has a dedicated readership and traffic is an opportunity for not only exposure, but growth.
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