Traditional media is being killed by the plummeting costs of content creation and distribution, thanks to wonderful new technologies like cheap HD camcorders, easy-to-make podcasts, and Twitter. The resulting lower barriers to entry make it possible for CNN and NYTimes competitors to emerge from everywhere. What's left and how will it end?

One reason (the main reason?) we go to CNN or the New York Times is for the trust associated with their brand. But think about it: your real loyalty is often to the brand associated with the journalist. Would you rather watch CNN or Anderson Cooper? Would you rather read a generic New York Times review or one by David Pogue?

So it seems to me that in the future we'll get our content mostly from branded personalities, rather than companies. The news media companies will begin to look more like Hollywood talent agencies, a loose federation of big-name personalities, where the secret is to trade the power of one name in order to create a new one. Read this article by Walt Mossberg and I'll slip in new content by somebody else in the hopes that you'll begin to trust that new name as well.

There is also a premium on ultra-niche or highly-focused content, and maybe some of that will go to the people who help you discover it. Today, that's the search engines (yesterday it was the portals) and it's hard to see that changing, but I bet it will. One problem with keyword search is that it only works for things you know enough to search for. You have to know the keyword. That's a tough problem to get around, and the subject of some future thinking, I guess.