Nickelodeon Gets Political with Election Programming
Network gets ready for quadrennial Kids Pick the President kids' vote in October.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/20/2008 8:52:00 AM MT
Nickelodeon will present a spate of political programming this fall, leading up to its quadrennial Kids Pick the President kids’ vote in October.
Nick will have a presence at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, where the Kids Pick the President election connection team -- comprised of Lil’ JJ, Pick Boy and Lily Collins -- will profile the candidates, report from the floor and get the word out about the kids’ vote.
Longtime Nick News host Linda Ellerbee will host two half-hour primetime specials: Tales from the Trail Aug. 24, profiling kids who are actively supporting Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); and the Kids Pick the President special, when the network will take the kids’ questions to the candidates and viewers can vote for their preferred candidate online.
Nickelodeon said the results of the kids’ vote correctly predicted the next president in four out of the five past elections.
The network held its first ever kids’ primary earlier this year, which correctly predicted that Obama and McCain would be the party nominees.
Nick will also host interstitials about the campaign leading up to its kids’ vote special.
“This presidential election has ignited so many young people to become more involved,” said Marva Smalls, executive vice president of public affairs for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, in a statement. “We want to connect our audiences to the process -- the candidates and issues. Kids -- although not legal voters -- don’t want to be on the sidelines.”
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