[Mb-civic] CBC Arts - CRAIGSLIST FOUNDER HAS PLANS FOR ONLINE JOURNALISM

[CBC Arts]

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CRAIGSLIST FOUNDER HAS PLANS FOR ONLINE JOURNALISM
WebPosted Tue Nov 22 18:25:53 2005

---The creator of the Craigslist online information service says he plans
to shake up news reporting with a major online journalism project.

Speaking at a conference at Oxford University, Craig Newmark said he has
plans to launch a journalism project within three months that would apply
a "wisdom of the masses" approach to writing.

Large news organizations have lost the trust of the public through
selling out to corporate interests and allowing themselves to be co-opted
by the powerful, he said.

The war in Iraq and uncritical coverage of the White House have
contributed to distrust of the media, Newmark told a seminar of
business students.

"The big issue in the U.S. is that newspapers are afraid to talk truth to
power. The White House press corps don't speak the truth to power; they
are frightened to lose access they don't have anyway," he said, according
to the Guardian newspaper.

Craigslist has revolutionized classified advertising with free online
sites that serve most large cities.

Newmark began the site in 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area as an
information service. It takes paid ads for jobs and free ones for
exchanging goods, meeting people and exchanging information.

The sites are designed to serve local communities and the craigslist
mandate is to respond to local concerns, Newmark says. Large newspapers
have lost that responsiveness, he says.

"We have seen a genuine wisdom-of-crowds effect at work at times on our
website," he said.

Newmark said he would use web technology to let readers decide what the
major stories should be, but did not say how the journalism project
would unfold.

Critics say craigslist has siphoned off classified advertising that used
to go to newspapers, making it impossible for them to keep up local
operations.

There are craigslist sites for several Canadian cities, including
Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Montreal.

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