MediaWise Voter Project (#MVP)

Voting can be complicated, especially if it’s your first time. Are you properly registered? Where do you even go? And perhaps most importantly, how do you know that you’re voting based on facts, not fiction?

MediaWise Voter Project (#MVP) is a nonpartisan media literacy program that aims to teach 2 million American college students how to be prepared and better informed as they vote for the first time in the 2020 election.

The 3 pillars of #MVP

First-time voter guides

With an emphasis on improving media literacy, Poynter will develop a first-time voter guide through a “how-to” social content series that will cover everything from voter registration to spotting misinformation. Students will learn to be discerning consumers of digital information, including:

  • How to get out of your digital echo chamber
  • How to really consume political news and ads
  • What not to do when you vote (no selfies!)

#MVP will also create a state-by-state voting guide that covers absentee ballots, voting online or early, voter ID laws and more.

In-person training

Poynter’s #MVP team will host a series of boot camp-style media literacy trainings at college campuses nationwide as well as other places where young people gather. This fall, as Election Day approaches, the MVP project will build up to a multi-campus bus tour where Campus Correspondents and MVP staffers will teach media and voter literacy at college football tailgates.

An awareness campaign

Poynter will work with a network of college campus correspondents, press, social media influencers and national celebrities to create and spread awareness of the MediaWise Voter Guide. Tyler Oakley, our newest MediaWise Ambassador, kicked off the 2020 campaign at an event at the University of Iowa.

Our partners

Poynter is partnering with Complexly, the production company of John Green, a MediaWise ambassador and the host of the MediaWise Navigating Digital Information Crash Course on YouTube. Complexly will produce the MVP Voter Guide. Additional partners of the MediaWise Voter Project will include Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) and the Campus Vote Project.

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MediaWise is a nonprofit, nonpartisan project of the Poynter Institute. It is made possible thanks to grant funding and charitable donations by: