• Reuters, Wednesday, April 25, 2007 11 AM

Given the unfathomable (and some might say disconcerting) ability of "American Idol" to get America interested in voting, it makes sense that News Corp. and reality TV producer Mark Burnett would team up to turn politics into the next voting-based reality TV program. The aim is to groom one young politician or community leader to represent young America--exactly how remains uncertain (We're talking about adding a House seat here.)

Called "Independent," the new show will run on News Corp's MySpace; similar to its TV cousins, users will vote off contestants after reviewing their videos. But users will also help create the content by raising issues relevant to the MySpace community. The winner gets $1 million to start its own party.

As yet, the program doesn't have a network partner. Burnett says this is part of the point, given that young people spend more of their time on the Web these days. That doesn't mean "Independent" wouldn't take a network partner if it could find one. Meanwhile, MySpace execs have high hopes. "Independent" represents a giant leap in the re-democratization of American politics, said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of News Corp.'s MySpace unit. The move comes as MySpace seeks new ways to integrate interactive, professionally produced content to sell to advertisers.

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