INTRODUCING HOT AIR

A NEW VENTURE BY MICHELLE MALKIN

I’m excited to introduce you today to Hot Air–a conservative Internet broadcast network I founded with a team of multi-talented bloggers. (Press release here.)

Internet video is booming. Apple’s iTunes store has sold a gazillion videos since its debut. YouTube gets more traffic than the New York Times web site. And politically-oriented web video is on the rise:

* Google teamed up with Al Gore’s Current TV network to provide Google Current.
* Amazon.com teamed up with left-wing comedian Bill Maher for an online talk show.
* iTunes offers a discount price for Comedy Central’s liberal Daily Show.
* AOL joined with the Huffington Post to provide Contagious Festival, a collection of conservative-bashing short movies.

These efforts have one thing in common: they are all produced by liberals for liberals. I began Hot Air in part to bring more balance to the videoblogging world. But also because it’s the next logical step in the information revolution. (See Ed Driscoll. And Power Line. London trends here. Flashback: Jeff Jarvis on vlogs in 2002.)

What text blogging has done to print media, videoblogging promises to do to broadcast media: challenge a once-insurmountable elite and kick down doors to unprecedented participation by citizen/”non-traditional” journalists. Thus our rabble-rousing mascot, created for us by Cox & Forkum:

We’ve posted the debut episode of our daily newscast called “Vent with Michelle Malkin.” It’s delivered in Flash (Version format. Download a Flash video player here if the video doesn’t automatically play for you.

Today’s topic: The Tech World and Red China’s Tyrants.

There’s much more to Hot Air than the daily newscast, though. We have affiliates from Paris to Washington, D.C., to Wisconsin offering original video, photography, audio, photoshop parodies, and investigative reporting, and we’re recruiting more. We are spotlighting the best content across the Internet in our “Top Picks” section. Our group blog is run 24/7/365.

*Update: Allah Pundit has posted a video clip montage of the liberal talking points shaping up over alleged CIA leaker Mary McCarthy. Watch it.*

We’ll be featuring original Flash animation, cartoons, mini-movies, and documentary trailers. And we’ve compiled a hot list of bloggers, podcasters, big talkers, creative entrepreneurs, and do-it-yourself resources for readers/viewers/listeners new to the Internet/broadcast convergence. The site is a fun, eclectic, and always enriching mix of traditional political analysis, humor, breaking news you need to know, and fresh-baked video goodness with no artificial flavors or preservatives.

We’ve also opened up a limited registration period for commenters. Come on over to Hot Air, join the studio audience, and get your fill!