Craigslist Founder Slams U.S. Press, May Launch Online News Project

[PDittie]

Saying U.S. newspapers "are afraid to talk truth to power," Craigslist founder Craig Newmark hinted that he's about to launch a major online journalism project within the next few months that will copy the successful "wisdom of the masses" approach to classified advertising and apply it to journalism.

...

"The faster that the newspaper industry develops new forms of delivery -- flexible screens connected to your cell phone -- the faster important (newsroom) jobs can be preserved," he said.

When talk turned to the problems plaguing the U.S. news industry, Newmark let fly: "The big issue in the U.S. is that newspapers are afraid to talk truth to power," the Guardian quoted him as saying. "The White House press corps don't speak the truth to power -- they are frightened to lose access they don't have anyway. ... The American public has lost a lot of trust in conventional newspaper mechanisms. Mechanisms are now being developed online to correct that."

Newmark also said coverage of the Iraq war and the press' involvement in the Valerie Plame case had damaged American journalism.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001570424

Say goodbye and good riddance to your fishwrap. They'll all be blogs in five years.

[Oerdin]

1. I doubt it.

Anyone remember all the talk about a paperless society 10 years ago? Now a few people are claiming printed newspapers and magazines are going the way of the dinosaur. The internet will become an increasing competitor for other media, which is good since entry costs are so low, but the internet won't kill print any more then cable killed traditional broadcasters or TV killed radio. Different people like different media deliver systems so there is room for all of them and that's great since consumers get more choices.

[Immad2]

2. Thanks for posting this article - very interesting