The Corporate Media’s War On Craigslist

[BR_Parkway]

http://dailytocque.com/?p=466

Mr. Newmark is a dangerous man. Not only is he singlehandedly sucking the revenue out of the newspaper business’s primary cash cow, classified advertising, but he represents the antithesis of the three tenants of the corporatist philosophy: greed, greed and more greed. He must be stopped. Capitalism cannot survive someone like Newmark cornering such a huge market share. “What’s the point of having more?” Just asking that question will get you expelled from the Brook Club.

So now it’s war. Just last week at the private executives meeting of the American Press Institute, the theme was "get craigslist". Here’s the roundup from Poynter’s Rick Edmonds in an article titled, “API to Summit: Newspapers Should Mount a Unified Challenge to Craigslist”:

The main event at the private executives’ meeting a week ago in Chicago was discussion of paid online content, and the American Press Institute contributed a white paper strongly endorsing several versions of that strategy. API also offered a second recommendation and a second white paper, arguing that the industry should mobilize “to prevent further revenue erosion” of classifieds.

The target of the effort would be Craigslist, whose mostly free listings have contributed to the disastrous dive of what used to be the industry’s most lucrative revenue source. The white paper suggests that with “a powerful unified national brand” on a common platform, newspapers could take back some of that business.

Toque Deville lays out how the M$M is going after Craigslist in detail - a very good read. Capitalism will not allow competition

[hobbit709]

1. The local fishwrap wants more for the ad

Than some of items on sale are worth. Then they wonder why people use craigslist. My ad for computer repairs on craigslist costs me nothing-in the fishwrap it would cost me about 75% of my average monthly profit.

[peacebird]

2. Craigslist is great! I can post useful stuff that I no longer want for free and

people who want/need can have it! Clears out my closet, and helps out someone else at the same time. Beauty!

And when I want to buy or sell, Craigslist is the first place I go. Great deals to be had, locally!

[Snazzy]

3. didn't even occur to me...

that all the hype about the Craig's list killer was counter attack on lost classifieds. And I'm one skeptical mofo. Arg, question everything indeed.

[ejpoeta]

4. i think they are going to make this guy wish he had sold it while he could.

he was offered a lot of coin to sell it, but didn't. I hope they don't get craigslist. usually they can destroy anything. hopefully the fact that it took them so long to start their attack will mean that it's too late. craigslist is popular.

[geckosfeet]

5. Craigs list was around before most of these asshats learned what a keyboard is.

[ejpoeta]

8. i know it's been around a long time. I think that if it wasn't as established as it is

they could probably kill it easier. Problem is, people aren't going to stop posting free ads and pay to post in a newspaper because of these assclowns. That i think is why they are trying to go the elicit post activity route. trying to get the government to do the job for them. But, does the newspaper get blamed when someone posts a bad ad in their pages? like that thing in the personals about hurting obama. Is that paper going to be shut down because of that?? NO! of course not. and they have their own ads like the 'massage' ads too. But no one says they ought to somehow be liable for people posting those there. It is ridiculous.

[EFerrari]

10. Good luck to them. Craig Newmark is a huge community guy

and beloved here in San Francisco.

[ejpoeta]

15. i saw a segment they did on him on some show. and i think it was after

he turned down an offer to buy craigslist from him. He wouldn't say how much the offer was for, but I think these guys aren't used to someone who isn't all about more more more. And the fact that he did it with a basic site with no bells and whistles. I think that is part of what folks like about it. I don't know how the guy makes money, but god bless him for not being one of those poeple... like the ones who are trying to shut him down. He makes enough, and that's refreshing. It doesn't seem to be about the money. and that is a good place to be. Where money isn't the whole thing. When money is your primary motive to do anything, how can you be happy?

[corpseratemedia]

6. I started wondering about this as the M$$N was inordinately focused on Craigslist

they hate it because its closer to a "free" marketplace

capitalism is not "free market"

between this and Mr. Michael "I'm a guy who sees nothing good having come from the Internet. Period." Lynton
(CEO of Sony Pictures - quote from freepress.net email) I am very worried about our future access to non-corporate sites and our
ability to trade person to person..actual free market-style.

[ejpoeta]

9. actually, it is free market. It's just that the newspapers and tv can't compete with free ads.

[corpseratemedia]

18. capitalism isnt "free" if it needs monopolies, overthrowing of legitimately

elected goverments, dirty wars, and government ceo-bailouts/shell games, and slave trade to undercut living wages to survive.

Many people wouldn't have enough money to purchase those ads in the first place.

[sendero]

7. Wwaaaahhhhhhhh....

... you lose your job? Well, you are supposed to retrain yourself and pull yourself up by your bootstraps, adapt to the marketplace.

Your overpriced and pretty much useless "service" of print ads is obviated by a service that is free to most users because it actually costs very little to deliver? Whine like a baby.

These assholes cannot do anything about craigslist. And it is not just classified advertising that is killing the print media, it is the sorry, half-assed biased nature of their "reporting" and the blatant thuggery of their editorial pages. FUCK THESE ASSHOLES I can't wait until every stinking one of them is OUT OF BUSINESS.

[BR_Parkway]

11. It looks like they're trying to stay in business by making Craigslist

the "bad guy". Next, we'll have the wailing mothers "Do something to protect the children".....

[angstlessk]

13. speaking of which, it was baby clothes swap on craigslist that drew the pregnant

women to her death and the baby cut out of her...the woman on CBS Early news asked...can craigslist be liable? shitstain..no..even the man declared, it is like advertising a bike and something untoward happens to me by a 'false' buyer.

[ejpoeta]

16. that is just as likely to happen with a standard newspaper advertisement.

We have a pennysaver here that has garage sale and other ads in it. It's not any safer a proposition than craigslist or anyplace else.

[sendero]

20. The idea that craigslist is in any way...

.... legally culpable for these incidents is ludicrous, end of story.

The fact that press even posits the idea that they are is damning.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Another Old Tech Industry In Denial

Yep...blame Craig's List...they're destroying newspapers. Now think about this for a sec. How is this happening? Well, seems the print biz became fat on the money from classified ads that was a cheap, easy source of revenue. Hell, salespeople didn't have to go out and get them. Along comes Craig's List that does the same thing for nothing and somehow this is destroying the newpaper industry?

Sure sounds like the same games the radio and recording industry are playing...blaming downloading as their problem rather than the quality of their product. When you have to earn revenues through the backdoor, that says how poor your business model is. Newspapers have long gotten away from making money on news and got fat on the corporate advertising (that vanished when the economy went south) and "NTR" (non-traditional revenue).

These industries want to turn the clock back...too late.

[leveymg]

14. Expect more States Attorneys for Hire to go after sex crimes in CL

If they can't compete, they can always harrass.

[votingupstart]

17. i support craigslist and i use it all the time

just because a company was great at making a product, doesn't mean that everyone still needs that same product.


go Craigslist.

[tridim]

19. It's too late. Craigslist is already the top of the heap.

I sold my bike this weekend in 30 minutes.