Former CNN Radio Bureau Chief Gary Baumgarten Joins Paltalk World's Largest Online Video Chat Community as Director of News and Programming

New York, NY, (PRWeb) March 7, 2007 -- Paltalk, the largest online video chat community with more than four million active members, today announced former CNN Radio Bureau Chief for the past decade Gary Baumgarten joined the company as Director of News and Programming. Baumgarten was part of the CNN team that received a 2005 Peabody Award for its coverage of Katrina. He is also an Associated Press and United Press International award winner for investigative and breaking news coverage. He brings more than 38 years of journalism experience to his new post.

"I am thrilled at the prospect of facilitating a global conversation between citizens of the world, providing voice and vision to various points of view on the latest breaking news events and in-depth analysis of issues that effect people on a global basis," said Baumgarten. "We are actively seeking out relationships with news organizations and independent journalists around the world to give them a voice on Paltalk."

Baumgarten offers a new vision for news coverage, broadcasting live, on Paltalk from both breaking global news events and from his studio in New York, into chat rooms that use patented technology to connect millions of people around the world through video, voice and text. This revolutionary news format allows users in every country to not only see, hear, and talk with each other in real-time about the latest headlines, but also with Baumgarten, news makers or subject matter experts.

Baumgarten will oversee the development of original programming, and hosts News Talk Online, the daily program where Paltalk's users see, hear and speak directly to guests and each other. News Talk Online (www.paltalk.com/newstalk) with Gary Baumgarden takes place Monday through Friday on Paltalk at 5 pm EST. Baumgarten's recent guests have included Mia Farrow, Arianna Huffington, Amanda Congdon, Kenny Kramer, Curtis Sliwa, and Anthony Cumia (from the Opie and Anthony radio show).

"Gary Baumgarten's depth of experience combined with our patented technology connecting millions of people around the world allows Paltalk to re-imagine what news and programming means in today's online world," said Joel Smernoff, President and COO, Paltalk. "We are honored to have such a nationally recognized journalist heading up our news programming and also overseeing the creation of our original content, which Paltalk is proud to be developing further in 2007 to enhance our user experience."

Before joining CNN, Baumgarten was a reporter and assistant news director at the CBS news radio station WWJ in Detroit and was a managing editor at Detroit Radio News Service. He was also was a reporter for the Detroit News, Jackson Citizen-Patriot and a number of weekly newspapers.

New York based Paltalk was founded over 8 years ago and survived the first Internet bubble becoming a profitable company by offering quality communication products for personal and professional use. Paltalk is the only program in the world that provides users the ability to create video-and audio-enabled chat rooms that simultaneously hold thousands of people. Paltalk was the first company to launch an Instant Messenger with video and voice capability combined with an online buddy list. Over the years, Paltalk has grown to become one of the most popular online services with more than 50 million downloads accounting for eight billion voice minutes per year.

About Paltalk
Founded in 1998, Paltalk (www.paltalk.com), the largest online video chat community with more than four million active members participating in live voice-and video-enabled chat rooms that allow them to see, hear, and text each other in real-time, is a privately held company based in New York. Paltalk's patented technology allows members to create their own chat rooms around topics they decide and then videoconference with thousands of simultaneous users in the same chat room.

Chat room hosts are given a full suite of moderation tools that allow them to control the environment, deciding who talks, shows videos, and stays in the room. The Paltalk community takes great care in keeping a safe, "clean and well lit" environment with more than 250 trained volunteer moderators. The Paltalk Messenger is compatible with leading instant messaging (IM) services, allowing users to transfer existing buddy lists, to combine all their contacts and talk to friends who use other IM programs. Paltalk also owns and operates HearMe (www.hearme.com), a B2B Web conferencing service. Paltalk was the first company to launch video and voice combined with an on-line buddy list in one package.

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