Will Bunch at Attytood reckons:
The American newspaper is being assassinated by “a lone nut.”
He names Craig Newmark of Craigslist as the lone nut. Bunch writes for the Philadelphia Daily News. H’e ignorant and biased. He’s wrong to blame falling newspaper circulation in the US on Newmark and his successful Craigslist free classified ads. Newmark is saving advertisers money, allowing them to use that money elsewhere. Craigslist is, in part, a response to unreasonably high classified advertising fees which are not based on a fair margin. Newspapers have priced themselves out of the market and now, thanks to the Internet, better broadband coverage and excellent mobile devices there are models which suit consumers better. Bunch ends ridiculously with:
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.
Journalists threatened ought to spend their time focusing their skills on new print product which is more suited to the times and to online. Journalists are as important today as yesterday – all that’s changed is the medium.
Gee newsagents face tougher trading today thanks to supermarkets and others selling magazines. Are they to blame? No. It’s competition. We live with it by becoming smarter. This is what journalists need to do rather than moaning about someone providing a useful free service.
Bunch should have had a shot at cracker.com.au too. No. Wait. It’s owned by Fairfax.