Leaping from the Print Sphere to the Vlogosphere

The transition from print magazine to online newsletter can be a big editorial jump, but to springboard even further to video blogging—or vlogging--is an even bigger leap. That's what John Soat, the former editor of Information Week, found out recently when he dove from his paper-based print publication into the cold and choppy waters of the video blogosphere clearly a dangerous new environment, though so far, he's managed to keep his head above water and avoid the sharks.

Soat is now the executive producer and host of The News Show, a daily online 7-minute video blog intended to deliver technology news and "penetrating analysis" of technology trends—the news behind the news. Soat wants to engender the perception that when you tune in to The News Show, you are getting the scoop from industry insiders. The video program is available from the Information Week Web site, from the TechWeb home page, and from www.thenewsshow.tv.

The show is an obvious attempt by the parent company (CMP Media, publishers of Byte, ComputerWorld, Information Week, Network Computing, and many other print an online publications) to generate more profit from its in-house talent pool of writers and editors. But Soat says it’s also an entrepreneurial venture into uncharted territory. While he admits The News Show vlog is an attempt by CMP to "leverage existing resources and content," he sees it as a step forward rather than merely a horizontal move. CMP is a media company, he says, and vlogging is a new media tool in his company's workshop.

To create The News Show, Soat has assembled a team of 20 correspondents, armed them with Webcam-equipped laptops, and turned them loose to gather news and insights wherever they go, sort of like the roving minstrels of the Renaissance.

The News Show's correspondents are all, like Soat, natives of the print world. About 10 come from Information Week, five are from Network Computing, and the others are from Bank Systems & Technology, Intelligent Enterprise (all CMP publications), and from TechWeb, CMP's online subsidiary. Although some of the correspondents have experience creating video content, many don't. Soat sees this lack of video experience as an advantage. "We are taking a guerrilla approach to video news," he says. "We want this to be feet on the street. We don't want this to be slick TV-style news."

And while he wants his correspondents to have personalities, he doesn't want them to become personalities and turn into well-coiffured video stars. They are ordinary (if perhaps a bit geeky) people, who are speaking to an ordinary (if a bit geeky) audience. That's the way he wants it. He wants his audience to see his correspondents as "people who are like them."