MySpace, NBC News and msnbc.com Announce "Decision08" Contest Winners

LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MySpace, the world's premier social network, together with NBC News and msnbc.com, two of the most globally-respected names in news, today announced the winners of the recently launched Decision08 Convention contest, which was hosted on the joint Decision08 community site (http://myspace.com/decision08). Nearly 50 thousand votes were cast by MySpace users, who selected Matt Britten and Sara Pat Badgley to serve as citizen journalists at the 2008 Democratic and Republican Conventions.

“I love politics, I love news, and I love watching politics on the news”

The Decision08 Convention contest launched on June 25, and invited MySpace users over the age of 18 to post videos that answered the question "How will you stand out in the crowd and get the scoop no one else can?" Out of the hundreds of entries received, a panel of judges from MySpace and MSNBC’s Morning Joe selected five finalists and the MySpace community was then encouraged to vote for their favorite finalists to attend the conventions and be featured on the Decision08 community and in convention coverage on MSNBC and msnbc.com.

As winners of the contest, Matt and Sara Pat will receive travel and lodging for the entirety of the conventions, full press credentials at the convention centers, entrance to MySpace sponsored events and cafes, and access to NBC News' media center. They will receive handheld video cameras and will be blogging and posting videos to the Decision08 hub and to their personal MySpace profiles. This content may also appear on msnbc.com and MSNBC programming, including Morning Joe.

"I love politics, I love news, and I love watching politics on the news," said Matt, who graduated from Syracuse University in 2007. "I have the political knowledge to know what questions to ask, the tenacity to get out there and ask them, and I am ready to have a lot of fun doing it." Matt will attend the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado, August 25-28, where he plans to "unbutton the collar of journalism and have a little fun, asking the questions that may not meet traditional journalistic standards, but that are on the minds of the citizens."

"No one knows what issues are most important for Americans except the citizens themselves," said Sara Pat, who recently spent her spring break in New Orleans helping the Tucson community raise money for Katrina Relief. "Citizen journalism is a way to attract individual thoughts and feelings on the issues, not collective opinions." Sara Pat will attend the Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 1-4. As a University of Arizona senior studying journalism, communications, and political science, Sara plans to use this rare opportunity to jumpstart her career as a political journalist.

Decision08 is a key component of the MySpace IMPACT Channel (http://impact.myspace.com), which empowers MySpace users to make a difference in the world and allows politicians, non-profits, and civic organizations to connect with MySpace's global audience. The IMPACT Channel houses the official MySpace profiles for the 2008 Presidential candidates, as well as tools to enable voter registration, fundraising, and volunteering.

The Decision08 hub offers interactive opportunities for the online community to actively engage with NBC News , msnbc-tv and msnbc.com content, anchors and reporters throughout the election season. There, users can get up-to-the-minute election coverage, news feeds and daily videos from NBC News, MSNBC-TV and msnbc.com, user-generated content from the MySpace community, links to profiles of NBC News and MSNBC anchors and reporters. In addition to offering its content via MySpace, msnbc.com links to and integrates Decision '08 into its own Politics home page (Politics.msnbc.com).

About MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 29 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp.

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 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, and the top-rated rated Today and Meet the Press programs. 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-hours-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. 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.

Members of the media can get more information about NBC and its programming on the NBC Media Village Web site at www.nbcumv.com.

About msnbc.com

Msnbc.com delivers a fuller spectrum of news. Drawing on its award-winning original journalism, NBC News heritage, trusted sources and Microsoft's advanced technologies, the site presents compelling, diverse and visually engaging stories on the consumer's platform of choice. Based in Redmond, WA, msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) and NBC Universal (NYSE:GE).