Dozens of young citizen journalists nationwide are covering the presidential election and local congressional races for MTV, delivering the news to the gadget generation on mobile devices and online through podcasts, blogs, videos, photos and animation.

Backed by a $700,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, the multimedia experiment will determine whether election stories from a “youth perspective” and delivering them through cell phones gets young people to the polls. Some reports will appear on the Associated Press Online Video Network and MTV.

Each of the 51 journalists, one from each state and Washington, D.C, will be armed with laptops, video cameras and cell phones and are charged with finding the “untold” political stories that their generation cares about.

Kyle de Beausset, 21, a Harvard student currently on leave and a blogger at Citizen Orange, was chosen to cover the presidential and local races in Massachusetts.

While Beausset said a trained, longtime journalist might “know some things that I wouldn’t about print journalism,” everyone is new to new media.

“I have as much experience as the next person when it comes to new media. A lot of the things we’re trying to do here is communicate with youth in new types of ways,” Beausset said last week from his native Guatemala, where he spent the holidays. “I’m going to be a one-man media outlet for Massachusetts youth.”

After Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala, he took some time off from school and became interested in journalism while tracing the dangerous route of a Guatemalan migrant to the United States, which he chronicled by blogging. Beausset does have some traditional journalism experience. He copy edits at the Bay State Banner and worked for the Harvard Crimson.

“Being a 21-year-old, you understand a little bit more about what youth care about,” he said. “Street Team ’08” begins reporting next week.