American Public Media and V-me Offer Select A Candidate in Spanish

Contact: Brad Robideau
(651) 290-1113
brobideau@americanpublicmedia.org
www.americanpublicmedia.org

American Public Media and V-me Offer Select A Candidate in Spanish

Popular Online Survey Tool to Engage Spanish-speaking Audiences

(St. Paul, Minn. & New York) September 22, 2008—With the Hispanic vote expected to play a significant role in this year's presidential election, American Public Media^™ has teamed with V-me, American's fastest growing Spanish TV network, to create and distribute a Spanish version of American Public Media's widely popular Select A Candidate^® online election survey tool (http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/selectacandidate/sp/).V-me has provided the translation and distribution support for Select A Candidate as part of its PARTICIPA 2008 initiative.

With the Spanish application of Select A Candidate, American Public Media andV-me will engage Latino voters through a series of online questions about major issues so that they can quickly learn which 2008 presidential candidates are most closely aligned with their views. Latino voters will also learn more about the candidates' positions on many issues and find out how their results compare with those of others who take the survey. Select A Candidate is regularly updated during the course of the election to reflect candidates' issues as they emerge in greater detail.

For free HTML code to put the Select A Candidate widget on a Web site, visit http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/engage08/selectacandidate/sp/widget/.

"American Public Media appreciates V-me working with us to engage Spanish-speakers with Select A Candidate," said Sarah Lutman, American Public Media's senior vice president of Content and Media. "By many indications, including from those of the presidential candidates, Latino voters will be a major force in this year's historic election. American Public Media hopes Select A Candidate will be a useful tool to help these voters make informed decisions."

"V-me's PARTICIPA 2008 initiative has raised the bar for informing and empowering Latinos in the electoral process," said John Begert, V-me's chief marketing and branding officer. "Bringing a Spanish version of Select A Candidate online in time for our special Presidential Debate, Interactive Forum and Election Eve coverage creates a new and significant voter education resource."

Select A Candidate is an interactive audience engagement tool created by American Public Media as part of Engage 08, American Public Media's collection of 2008 election coverage resources. These resources include interactive tools that provide unique ways in which to educate, inform and entertain the electorate. Since its fall 2007 launch, nearly 700,000 people have played Select A Candidate.

PARTICIPA 2008, V-me's year-long commitment to quality multi-platform political coverage and voter education in Spanish, is made possible in part by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

About V-me
V-me, the new Hispanic Television option, entertains and informs America's Latino families in Spanish with primetime drama, music, sports, current affairs and Latin cinema, along with world class kids, food, lifestyle and nature. Currently available in over 6 million US Hispanic homes and 40 million total homes, the 24-hour network, partnered with public television, is America's largest Spanish digital channel. V-me is the first venture of the media production and distribution company, V-me Media Inc. To find out more, visit www.VmeTV.com.