Craig Newmark -- of Craigslist fame -- has always been a media favorite because he's thoughtful and interesting and he has resisted the urge to sell is site for hundreds of millions of dollars. This feature again addresses the claim that Craigslist is killing newspapers because it's taking away classified ad money to papers. Newmark, who clearly cares about journalism, refutes this, but it's almost indisputable. That said, who cares? Craigslist offered a better mousetrap and people flocked to it.
As the story notes, if newspapers want to win back classified users, they need to design something online that benefits their readers. Easier said than done, maybe, but you can't expect people to use something less efficient just because they have for many years. If newspapers could actually design web classifieds to rival Craigslist, my guess is people would flock there since they would be more inclined to trust their local paper over Craigslist.
Newspapers Need to Stop Whining About Craigslist
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