Congrats to the Bush administration: You have found a successful way to alienate young voters. At an April 15 presidential visit to Des Moines, reporters and photographers from three Iowa colleges were barred from covering Bush’s speech. Two of the newspapers — the Iowa State Daily and the DMACC Chronicle — turned in press credentials a day before the deadline.

The Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa’s newspaper, did not turn in information on time, but called the White House press office to see if its request was received.

According to Daily staff reports, Annie Shuppy, the Daily Iowan’s reporter, said the White House press office said her credentials would be waiting at the event in Des Moines. Like other college media — who turned their information in on time — she was turned away because the Daily Iowan was not on the “approved” list.

This action by the White House is disturbing. In an election where apathetic young voters may hold the swing votes to determine who will be the next president of the United States, it is confusing why student media would be barred from any venue where a presidential candidate is speaking. Beyond confusing, it is utter disrespect and discrimination.

While it may be reasonable for the Daily Iowan to be turned away for not submitting credentials on time, there is no reason the Daily and Chronicle were not allowed to cover the speech. According to a Des Moines Register article, Mike Allsup, the Chronicle reporter, was told by the by staff that his time would be better spent in school than at the speech. Allsup told the Daily he was later contacted by the White House press office, which told him the president did not want student media covering the Des Moines event.

Further discrimination occurred when a reporter and photographer from WQAD in the Quad Cities was allowed to cover the event, despite not being on the “approved” list because they did not fax credentials on time. If WQAD was allowed in, so should have been the Daily Iowan.

In total, more than 70,000 potential voters were not represented by the media that best serve their communities. Is the Bush campaign writing off students’ votes? It cannot be denied that the 18 to 25 population in the United States turns out to vote less than other age groups, but barring coverage of the media that serve them is not going to make it better.

In addition, activities such as the New Voters Project, which aims to register 8,000 ISU students before the next presidential election, are actively taking steps to ensure young voters live up to the political clout their numbers can bring.

The Bush administration lost a chance on April 15 to appeal to young voters. By keeping out student media, the Bush administration ignored young voters’ potential, making it more elitist than previously assumed.

Whereas Bush’s opponent is trying to appeal to young voters to help him win, Bush is apparently concerned only with preserving the status quo voters who are not willing to elect a big-haired Democrat from Massachusetts.