As news outlets de-ployed their teams to Blacksburg, Va., following the Apr. 16 shooting at Virginia Tech, the business operations of The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and Time magazine were busy, too. Each bought ads on either Google or Yahoo! so that anytime someone searched the phrase "Virginia shooting," their links would pop up prominently on the right-hand side of the page. "Get info on the gunman and other breaking news from CNN.com," one Apr. 17 sponsored link read.
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