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If Craig were an editor

7 comments on If Craig were an editor

If Craig were an editor

: Patrick Phillips of IWantMedia asks Criag Newmark of Craig’s List one question:

Q: Is Craigslist a threat to newspapers?

A: Craigslist founder Craig Newmark: “Sure, by providing free classifieds, we deprive newspapers of some revenue. But in context, we’re not a significant threat. The real problem is decreasing audience and circulation for mass media, which I think results from decreasing credibility. For example, we rarely see reporters asking tough questions of authority — the best case being the White House press corps. To be fair, Helen Thomas and Jon Stewart are notable exceptions. Maybe this is the time for a call to action, since I know most reporters want to report these matters. I don’t mean to be critical, but compared to this, Craigslist is pretty penny-ante.”

Helen Thomas? Helen Thomas? She has been loopy for decades now. Just because press secretaries don’t like her, that doesn’t mean she’s H.L. Mencken.

7 responses to “If Craig were an editor”

  1. Franky Avatar
    Franky

    I have no love for Thomas, but read transcripts of the gaggle and see that she’s one of the few to not take an evasive answer but will keep on asking. In an age when NYT reporters said that the yfelt intimidated by the proximity of war to ask the President really tough questions that something to respect.
    Can you even imagine the reams of material Bierce or Mencken would have to work with in this day and age? Try and imagine the portrait they would paint of this administration.

  2. Brett Avatar
    Brett

    I have respect for Helen. At least here’s a journalist about whom we know where stands.
    “I censored myself for 50 years….Now I wake up and ask myself, ‘Who do I hate today?’…I have never covered a President who actually wanted to go to war. Bush’s policy of pre-emptive war is immoral – such a policy would legitimize Pearl Harbor. It’s as if they learned none of the lessons from Vietnam….Where is the outrage?”
    Do I agree with her? God, no. But I know how to read her. Background – it matters…

  3. Mork Avatar
    Mork

    The article didn’t say she was a great journalist, or event that she wasn’t loopy. It said that she asks tough questions where other journalists don’t.
    That, I would have thought, was pretty much undeniable.

  4. Jerry Avatar
    Jerry

    Helen Thomas has been the only one in the White House Press Corp to speak up for well over a year. Jon Stewart is a comedian for goodness sake! It’s pretty pathetic when the best guys on our team are comedians! (Al Franken, Michael Moore, etc) Where are the politicians and where are the media?

  5. a reader Avatar
    a reader

    “we rarely see reporters asking tough questions of authority — the best case being the White House press corps. To be fair, Helen Thomas and Jon Stewart are notable exceptions.”
    I thought Craig meant that Helen Thomas and Jon Stewart are two of the authority figures that reporters do question?
    Actually, I guess it’s rare to see a reporter these days asking questions in the first place, because it gets in the way of telling us what to think.
    (The guy lives in San Francisco, give him a break.)

  6. Anthony Avatar
    Anthony

    Why criticize a reporter for being thorough and trying to get an answer to her question? That’s not “loopy.” It’s respectable.

  7. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    Senile rambling about how we’re going to invade Spain(and yes, she really did that) is not “respectable”. It’s loopy. Jeff had it right.