Community journalism interests Craigslist founder

By Sarah Colombo. Posted: 2005-05-06

From Yahoo News via AP: The community journalism movement may soon be joined by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, who said he's been brainstorming with Dan Gillmor and Jeff Jarvis about an effective way to contribute to the model.

Newmark also told reporters and editors at an AP bureau that he believes newspaper circulation numbers are dwindling because reporters quote political and business sources who are blatantly lying. He said hopes to foster a group of "talented amateurs" to become credible, investigative reporters, and that he?d opt for an "open source" model that would challenge the mainstream media.

Newmark, whose 10-year-old community site now draws 8 million unique visitors monthly, has certainly earned the authority to weigh in on effective ways to increase readership. Aside from charging advertising fees to discourage postings from swindling landlords and dishonest New York apartment brokers, Newmark and his board members aren?t likely to be considering a public sell-out or other ways to exploit revenue sources.

Craigslist is often held responsible for regional papers' loss of advertising revenue, but Newmark said he?s not interested in "stealing" readers away from traditional media.

"People are looking for attitude and guts in reporting ? not full-on gonzo journalism, but hey, tell us what you think," he said.

Comments:

From Jon Garfunkel on May 7, 2005 at 1:07 PM

"But he believes the reason why newspapers are losing circulation is that too many traditional journalists are willing to quote politicians and business executives even if they're blatantly lying - merely for the sake of perceived objectivity."

How about when a traditional journalist quotes a business executive who's blantantly brainstorming - merely for the sake of perceived news?

Newmark's comment is a non-sequitor. I heard the same bunk. It's like the equivalent of saying that people are not going to baseball games because of a decline in the ability to execute the hit-and-run. No, it's because the product is comparatively expensive versus what one can get over television. Ditto for news.