Scholastic and NBC News Team up to Cover Election 2008

Scholastic and NBC News Team up to Cover Election 2008

80 Member Scholastic Kids Press Corps To Report From the Campaign Trail; NBC News Journalists to Offer Tips from the Pros with Scholastic News Reporters and Readers

Kids Debate '08 Debuts at MSNBC Democratic and Republican Debates: Kids Pick Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani as Winners on Scholastic News Online Poll

NEW YORK, May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Scholastic News(R), America's leading news source for kids and NBC News, the most watched news organization, announced today that they again will team up to cover the Presidential Election for classrooms nationwide. The Scholastic Kids Press Corps, a diverse group of student reporters ages 10-14 from across the country, will cover Election 2008 for Scholastic Classroom Magazines and Scholastic News Online and will occasionally share a kid's eye view of the campaign trail on NBC News programs.

Scholastic Kid Reporters' stories will appear in Scholastic News(R) (for students in grades 1-6), Junior Scholastic(R) (grades 6-8) and Scholastic News Online(TM), which have a combined reach of more than 25 million students and teachers annually. Scholastic Classroom Magazines is a division of Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company.

"Scholastic is committed to encouraging students to learn about and take an active role in the world around them. Our vast reach into the classroom, combined with NBC's leading news programming, will inspire and excite millions of students to discuss the fascinating aspects of this historic election, from the debates and primaries to the choice of the next President," said Rebecca Bondor, Editor-in-Chief, Scholastic Classroom Magazines. "We are pleased to build on the success of our Election 2004 collaboration, and the Kid Reporters are looking forward to learning how to report the news from some of the nation's best journalists."

As part of the Scholastic and NBC News coverage, the Scholastic Kids Press Corps will also have the opportunity to interview award-winning NBC journalists reporting on Election 2008. Scholastic will publish these articles on Scholastic News Online and in Scholastic's classroom magazines.

"NBC News is delighted to again work with Scholastic, a trusted source of information for students, parents and teachers, to engage a new generation in the political process and in journalism. We look forward to working with them on the issues young people care about most," said Philip Alongi, Executive Producer of NBC News' Decision 2008 coverage.

First Assignment: Kids Debate '08

Along with the rest of the national press corps, the Scholastic Kids Press Corps reported from the Democratic debate at South Carolina State University and the Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, both sponsored by MSNBC. "Kids Debate '08" coverage included live online chats at Scholastic News Online (www.scholastic.com/news), where students across the country discussed up-to-the-minute details and posted questions for Kid Reporters to ask the candidates.

Questions from kids were serious: "If elected President, what would you do to regain the trust of many countries that we lost with the war in Iraq?" "Why do some states have better school systems than other states?" And some issues were of particular relevance to kids: "Do you think a candidate should listen to what kids have to say about politics?" "Are you going to change the school lunches to be tastier?"

In addition, a Scholastic News Online poll asked students nationwide: "Who do you think won the debate?" According to the kid respondents, the top three candidates in each of the debates were:

Democratic Debate Republican Debate
Barack Obama 45% Rudy Giuliani 39%
John Edwards 42% Mitt Romney 25%
Hillary Clinton 11% John McCain 20%

"Kids Debate '08" will take place during most of the major debates leading up to the election. Over the next twenty months, the Scholastic Kids Press Corps will be covering Election 2008 events nationwide, including campaign events, the primaries, the election and the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States.

About NBC News

NBC News has been a leading source of global news and information for more than 75 years, first on radio, and today via broadcast and cable television, the Internet, radio and cell phones. Operating around the clock with bureaus in key cities in the United States and overseas, NBC News provides immediate coverage and in-depth reporting of major events to a worldwide audience.

For more than a decade, NBC News has served as the dominant force in all of television news, watched by more Americans than any other news organization. NBC News provides more than 25 hours of weekly programming, including Nightly News with Brian Williams, Today, and Meet the Press. The network also produces weekend editions of Nightly News and Today, as well as The Chris Matthews Show. Dateline NBC is the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime. As the only broadcast news division with an affiliated cable channel, MSNBC provides 24-hour a day coverage of news events around the globe with the dedicated resources of NBC News. MSNBC.com consistently ranks as one of the leading news and information sites on the Internet -- winning both of the Industry's top honors for online news in the past year. NBC Mobile provides news and information updates and show excerpts to cell phone users throughout the day reported by the anchors and correspondents of NBC News, and NBC News Radio produces up-to-the-minute radio reports for affiliated stations in all major markets across the country.

About Scholastic Classroom Magazines

Scholastic is the largest publisher of educational magazines, with 33 publications for grades PreK-12, reaching over 25 million students and teachers across the country. Teachers rely on these publications to enhance instruction in such subjects as science, reading and language arts, math, social studies, current events, history, geography, world languages and art. Scholastic News Online (www.scholastic.com/news), the magazines' online companion, gives teachers, students and parents an additional resource with which to learn about and discuss current events in the classroom and at home.

About Scholastic

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school- based book fairs, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries and television networks; and the Company's Internet site, www.scholastic.com.

FCMN Contact: rmarchuk@scholastic.com

Source: Scholastic

CONTACT: Jennifer Boggs, +1-212-343-6619, jboggs@scholastic.com, or Sarah
Trabucchi, +1-212-343-6424, strabucchi@scholastic.com, both of Scholastic; or
Barbara Levin of NBC, +1-212-664-2265, barbara.levin@nbc.com

Web site:

http://www.scholastic.com/
http://www.scholastic.com/news
http://www.msnbc.com/

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