New magazine is craving for women

The first issue of the print magazine Blogger & Podcaster came out in mid April. I received the digital (free) version in my feedreader, and was excited to see how a print media of a substantially digital media could look.

Former Microsoft Blogger Robert Scoble on the cover vouched for seriousness and illustrating the merging of the two disciplines that the magazine has aimed to describe, as Scoble is now a well respected podcaster.

So far soo good.

But as I flipped the pages on the screen of my lap top (yes very interactive print) I couldn´t help noticing, that only one photo out of 16 of the columnists and experts portraied a woman.

I am well aware that only 13.8 % of podcasters are women. For blogging the share of women is not so unbalanced. But my impression of the podcasters community is, that it is inclusive, women are well respected and listened to, a lot of women podcasts are popular and have good rankings, so there is no reason why a magazine should not reflect that.

After having written about this on my English blog and emailed back and forth with the publisher Larry Genkin from Larstan and the editor-in-chief Anna Saita, I am convinced that this is something the magazine will chance in the coming issues.

As. Larry Genkin writes:

To be blunt we were rushing around like crazy just to get content written & edited, that we didn’t stop for a second to consider gender (or racial for that matter) balance. We will in the future.To be blunt we were rushing around like crazy just to get content written & edited, that we didn’t stop for a second to consider gender (or racial for that matter) balance. We will in the future.

And this is where you get involved.

The editorial staff needs women examples, experts, good feature stories about women in podcasting and blogging. And I know they are out there. Do you know the name of a good female columnist, for example, write to Anna Saita. And if the name, you can come up with, is your own, don´t hesitate, send them a bio, some links to your work, ideas for columns or stories they could write, or you yourself could write.

I have already sent the link to the list, Leesa Barnes made of savvy women in podcasting, and that list is even longer.

Remember, this is not about being feminist and beating an old drum. This is about not being shy and waiting to be discovered. It is a competition, don´t deny it, and women just have to get in there and compete for attention. For one main reason - to reach other women, whom we know for a fact would have great benefit from there media and the community around it.

Comments

[Larry Genkin]

Karin, thanks for getting the word out about this. Helping us to identify those with interesting stories or doing great work is very helpful. One other way to have the good work of women recognized in the pages of Blogger & Podcaster is to vote for your favorite Blog/Podcast at www.bloggerandpodcaster.com. Each month we're going to publish the top "favorite" (very different from biggest audience) blogs and podcasts within the magazine. You'll see the "vote" on the left side of our main page.

- Larry
Publisher
Blogger & Podcaster Magazine

[Anna Farmery]

Karin

Great point and I really believe that we need to promote better - women are often shy at promoting themselves but then not shy at complaining about the lack of coverage. As a group we need to support and encourage women to promote their work and each other, there are some wonderful female podcasters out there and I think having more role models would encourage others to become involved in such a wonderful community.