Here is the latest in the ongoing series of essays, TV News in a Postmodern World. Those familiar with my work know that my deep concern in the midst of the enormous changes around us is for LOCAL broadcasters and LOCAL communities. My friends and contemporaries exist in this world, and most face an uncertain future. This essay looks at how well-funded internet start-up companies in the Media 2.0 space all deal from a global perspective, seeking to create communities outside geographic boundaries.

While this is good for the start-ups and their investors, it may not be so healthy for our local communities, because it moves advertising money from inside geographic markets to distant places. And that’s not good for local media companies.

I don’t have any easy answers for this, except to say that broadcast companies need to invest in 2.0 projects, only they need to take advantage of the local angles that the Google’s of the world can’t offer. I’d like to see the day when local venture capitalists and angel investors build such applications at the local level before scaling them through expansion — perhaps in franchise form — to other locations.

Investing in a Local Future

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