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The primary conflict political parties are having when it comes to reaching young voters is torn between the means of communication and the message, panalists at last night’s American Form said.

The young faces in the crowed directly related to the primary topic of discussion at the American Forum last night. Over two hundred students listened to questions both asked and answered by five professionals in the journalism field.

“Media must do a better job of covering young people,” said Jose Antonio Vargas, an editor at Huffington Post.

“You were the decisive vote, the biggest voice in the room,” said moderator Jane Hall, an associate professor in the School of Communications, to the crowd before the forum had started. She expressed an idea that the panelists agreed with.

“What’s the story now for young people?” Hall then asked. “Is there still a change that young people can believe in?”

Research Hall and a colleague encountered suggests not. In the election, 66 percent of young voters chose Obama. Now that he is in office, only 42 percent of young people support him, and many in this percentage have increasing concerns about the state of the government.

What changed? Obama came with “a galvanizing message young people hadn’t heard before,” says David Gregory, moderator for NBC’s Meet the Press.

Gregory went on to say that young people have become fairly anti-institutional, having lost faith in government, media, and various other areas. Obama campaigned on a technology background, speaking to a generation that has become so savvy in this field

“It was easy for young people to identify with Barack Obama because of media usage in the campaign,” said David Corn, Washington bureau chief, Mother Jones magazine.

Now, however, Obama is “far more a conventional president than a lot of people expected him to be,” said Corn. “[It] doesn’t look like he’s a transformative president in the ways he’s conducting his presidency.”

This isn’t to say that the president has not kept up with his media usage while in office. When a student asked about the differences between the Bush administration and the Obama administration’s use of media, Gregory chose to answer. Obama is “more of a spokesman than Bush,” said Gregory. He went on to say that Bush was “not as committed to engaging the media,” while Obama “wants to engage; wants to deal with individual reporters.”

Yet, Obama and other political leaders, as well as the media, are not talking to the generation that has become increasingly important.

The 18-29 year-old generation accounted for one-fifth of the electoral votes in the 2008 election, says Vargas. And in the 2006 elections, “young people broke against the Republican party,” said David Winston, Republican strategist, and accounted for a loss of nearly 30 points.

This significant loss in voters is a challenge the party is now facing. “How do you have a conversation with young people?” asked Winston. “How do you make yourself ‘cool’ to them?”

Republicans realize that they have lost a lot of the younger generation. He compared his political party to the Oldsmobile brand, saying that neither can introduce a new image that easily appeals to young people. Winston pointed out that Republicans can’t expect that learning how to use new technologies will instantly draw interest. “It’s not a lack of media, it’s a lack of interest,” Winston said.

Regardless of which party is doing poorly, in order to keep young voter’s attention, the generation needs to start feeling as though they are important as well. “There is an obligation on the part of leaders to find ways to engage people in the policy debates,” said Corn.

The health care debate has failed to draw a large amount of student followers, as it is an issue that will not pertain to this demographic until later in their lives. It’s difficult for students to fully develop an opinion on the situation, as it simply is not part of their day-to-day situations.

“I don’t think young people are aware of the issue or really care about the health care issue at all,” said McPike.

“Editors look down on covering young people,” Vargas said. He then mentioned that the government just passed the largest expansion of financial aid, yet the media isn’t covering it. “The media isn’t covering issues that pertain to students!”

This lack of coverage is translating into a lack of interest in the younger voters. There are minimal topics that interest the lives of this generation, so as a result there is less involvement.

“Young people who are engaged have a voice they didn’t have before,” said Gregory. “Twitter, Facebook, and blogs are all a way to be heard and express yourself.”

Even with these technologies, however, is anyone listening to this generation? Vargas cited the fact that Obama has over 6 million “friends” on Facebook. Young people post comments to the president that are subtly informative, he said.

“Obama has to go beyond a compelling election that takes on the action of sport,” Gregory said. Simply because the president currently has support from this generation does not mean it will always remain. The president must keep in touch with these voters to ensure the positive feedback remains.

All in all, young voters want to care about a subject. They want someone to trust, but have become so detached from the media as a result of interest. The media needs to realize this, and reach out to the younger generations.

“Technology is not a panacea,” said Vargas. “At the end of the day, this is about message.”