Branding is everything - Future of media networks

In the age of user created content, free distribution and easy-to-copy application development branding will be more important than ever.
For trusted sources like morning newspapers this is a matter of survival: Aggregate the best content fitting your niche, create in-depth content and gather a social network around what you do best, and brand that content and network or loose your visitors and subscribers to another source. The origin of the content wont matter, only the quality and the critical view. Any source will do as long as you remain true to your brand.

This is a very big and difficult situation for TV-networks and newspapers. In five years, when distribution is a non issue, they must compete with every person on earth with a good taste and good reputation, in an environment where their brand is more vulnerable than ever.