American communism: saluting Craigslist's destruction of journalism



At Attytood, Philadelphia Daily News' Will Bunch describes his "lone nut" theory of the assassination of the American newspaper . "The American newspaper is being assassinated by "a lone nut." And we're going to tell you the name of that lone nut: Craig Newmark of Craigslist... -- a man whose altruistic vision of running a business to NOT maximize profits is now threatening the livel[i]hood of thousands of working men and women across this country, your neighbors who work at and publish your local newspaper, jobs that were once supported by the classified ads that have migrated to the most[ly] free (or low-cost) Craigslist. Last week, Newmark's co-conspirator... -- his CEO Jim Buckmaster -- told stunned Wall Street analysts how they're happy to forego profits to save you a couple of bucks on a classified ad, and put some of my best friends on the unemployment line in the process." Bunch quotes a Forbes story, which asks of Craigslist: "Why not earn money and then give it away to charity: "I think it's a valid argument and one that we don't necessarily have a persuasive answer for,'' Buckmaster said. "That is a proven model for doing good in the world. It just doesn't happen to be our model. Ours is to try to be as philanthropic in our core business as we can be and leave all the money out there in the hands of users.'' Bunch says a Craig's Foundation would be good for one lovely reason: "[W]hat will be the main benefactor of this new foundation? A scholarship fund, to pay for the college education of the dozens of displaced journalists across America losing their jobs everyday... And if there's any cash left, how about building a retirement home for any newspaper folks who might somehow see a diminished pension down the road? In the meantime, I think every journalist who's a threatened victim of layoffs should be sure to send Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster a holiday card this year, including a family photo, and let them know how we're doing in 2006. After all, even a "lone nut" should see who his victims are."

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