E-Media Tidbits

Brian Solis, via Flickr (CC license) Could Craiglist founder Craig Newmark end up helping to save journalism?

• Congratulated Craigslist on their continued success.
• Reminded founders Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster that Craigslist has "played a role in the downturn of the newspaper industry."
• Observed that Newmark has often publicly "expressed concern about newspapers' plight as it affects watchdog journalism."
• Requested that Craigslist take active measures to help save news organizations. (That is, he's asking that they help save journalism -- not necessarily newspapers.)
• Suggested four ways that Craigslist might achieve these goals.

So far, Outing hasn't yet received a substantive response from Newmark or Buckmaster. NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen asked Newmark via Twitter whether he planned to respond.

If we were talking about nearly any other online media company, I'd say Outing was wasting his energy. However, Newmark has consistently voiced considerable respect and support for traditional journalism. Even more, he's paid substantial money from Craigslist's own pocket to support it. I think that opening this dialogue is entirely appropriate, and I applaud Outing for initiating it. I hope the Craiglsit founders respond, and that they keep talking.

Here are Outing's ideas for how Craigslist might help save news organizations (see his post for details):

1. Allow local newspapers to scrape Craigslist ads.
2. Allow consumers to place ads on Craigslist via newspaper sites.
3. Add links on Craigslist to newspaper site classified sections.
4. Add a news component to Craigslist.

What do you think of Outing's ideas? And if Craigslist decided to go along, do you think news organizations would welcome such overtures? What might help -- or get in the way? Please comment below.