James Cohen's Profile

Their budgets are shrinking, their audiences are getting smaller and their advertising dollars are diminishing. Some won’t even be around in a few years due to economic pressure and potential changes in network-affiliate relations. To survive and thrive, local broadcasters are more dependent than ever on creating viable Web businesses.

Companies that produce TV shows are trying to monitor when fans talk about the programs, then harness that chatter as another tool for sponsors. Getting the attention of someone who is texting, tweeting or talking about a TV show might still be good enough, after all, if you can't get them to watch the TV show in the old-school manner.

I'm a big believer in the idea that "earned media" or "earned links" are increasingly important online. That's the idea that growing numbers of people are relying on news links that are being passed to them via friends on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. It's about recognizing that more and more often news stories "find people" rather than the other way around. That is, people are increasingly getting links from friends, acquaintances and colleagues, rather than going searching for the news. And those "earned" links or "passed links" are quite valuable because friends are more likely to trust and pay attention to what is personally sent to them, rather than what's just on the front page of a news site.

First a little enlightenment for all of you that think Murdoch is making a mistake. This is not 1999, nor is it 2004, nor is it 2006, nor is it 2008. The calendar is about to turn to 2010. What worked and made sense 3, 5 and 10 years ago, no longer does.