Well before the 1996 campaign began, a number of news organizations independently came to the conclusion that they had to do something extra in their pages and news programs to entice young Americans into the media tent. Cooper had previously worked for the in-school news service Channel One. C-Span, the network of the shuffleboard set, began offering short video interviews of students as part of its campaign '96 coverage. Chideya's first piece in Time tried to explain her generation's apparent lack of interest in politics and current events. While Chideya herself cited the now notorious Pew Research Center figures showing how network news viewing has declined by almost one third among 18 to 29 year olds in the past year alone, she still found some good tidings hidden in the numbers.
Students have to be interviewed, too.
In a health care piece, the younger uninsured audience has to be covered. I don't know any difference between telling a story to a young person and telling a story to an older person. The visual result is nothing if not arresting. The overall political effect is a bit harder to read. The home movie feel and the artful lighting create a wave of empathy for Mollie, until the viewers' own disillusion kicks in.