The Hendersonville Times-News picks up an article from the New York Times' Geraldine Fabrikant and Laura Holson that discusses the fact that changes at Viacom have been quite pronounced while changes at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. are coming in the near future - yet no one is paying much attention.

At the center of the discussion is Murdoch's statement that his sons Lachlan and James, currently in their early 30's, will be at the helm one day. The fact that there are two of them is a problem in itself, as we will soon see with the Tom Freston/Les Moonves shuffle at Viacom. Compounding the issues at News Corp. is that, according to the Times article, "several analysts said that neither [of the sons] appeared to have the broad experience needed to oversee the News Corporation itself." And while Murdoch has one of his current chiefs in line to replace him on a moment's notice, that individual - Peter Chernin - wants to be able to walk if someone else offers him a CEO spot.

A lot of people will bring the criticism to situations like this because it's really easy to take shots at a company that's the size of News Corp., Viacom, et al. But is that the problem behind the succession difficulties, or is it just the changing corporate environment we live in? With a lack of corporate loyalty to employees - as compared to 30-40 years ago - combined with (or causing?) a lack of employee loyalty towards their employers, it's no wonder that someone like Chernin would want to have such a clause.

Keep an eye on News Corp., Viacom, and the family-controlled Cablevision in the next few years. The new leadership at these companies will be the forces making a huge impact on the media economy as we know it.