
Craigslist has cost U.S. newspapers $5 billion since 2000, researchers say - alexlitov
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/14/craigslist-has-cost-u-s-newspapers-5-billion/
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GuiA
That's like saying that cars have cost horse carriage manufacturers $X
billion. What a silly statement.

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kansface
Its entirely reasonable to claim CL has transformed a billion dollar business
into a million dollar business of which it (as a company) is the sole
beneficiary. For quite some time, Newspapers and the like have not sold news-
they sell used cars and real estate. Quantifying the actual numbers if
valuable.

~~~
GuiA
It's reasonable to say that they have transformed the market, but saying they
have "cost" them anything is an ill choice of words.

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jlgreco
Alternatively, Craigslist has saved people $5 billion (minus fees for a few
categories) since 2000.

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michaelfeathers
I feel the same way. The headline should say:

Technical progress and competition have cost U.S. newspapers $5 billion since
2000, researchers say

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jlgreco
_" Failure to innovate damages industry Dinosaurs"_

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mindcrime
What a horrible headline. That makes it sound like US newspapers were somehow
entitled to that $5 billion. In actual fact, the newspapers had the same
opportunity as Craiglist to earn (or try to earn) that revenue, and they
dropped the ball. Boo hoo, cry me a river.

It should, instead, read "failure to adapt to new technology and a changing
environment results in $5 billion loss to US newspaper industry". Or something
roughly like that.

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fnordfnordfnord
Newspapers forfeit $5 billion badly needed dollars to Craigslist by totally
failing to notice how bad they were at their jobs, and how technology has
changed information delivery. Continue to insist upon sending patrons pounds
of waste paper every month.

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dobbsbob
Nothing stopping media tycoons from making their own classifieds site. Village
Voice did with Backpages

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BIair
Cost per inch, classifieds were always a big rip-off. Worse? Obituaries. Now
many papers charge a fee for print, plus a web fee. Adding insult to injury.
Who's going to disrupt the obits?

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jessaustin
Only old people care about obituaries on a regular basis. When they start
reading other media (actually, when people who read other media get old),
newspaper obituaries will be disrupted.

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BIair
Only old people read obituaries? What about real estate agents? Auctioneers?
I'm sure people said no money existed in free classifieds. Except for Craig.

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jlgreco
Sure, but I think few people buy obituaries to help out real estate agents. If
those people want obituaries, then perhaps they can pay newspapers to run them
for others for free.

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adventured
First, the article is talking about data for 2000-2007 (so the title is a bit
misleading). The prime collapse in the newspaper industry began after 2007.

Second, if you ran it to 2013 it would clearly be at least several times $5b
based on the spectacular collapse of the classified industry.

Third, losing the lucrative classifieds business chopped the legs out from
under newspapers, the net cost to them was much wider than just the raw
classified business itself.

As others have noted, Craigslist has saved people and businesses at least as
much as they've cost newspapers. The efficiency gain alone of Craigslist is
likely to have produced a significant net gain for the US economy.

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reedlaw
I wouldn't mind if newspapers went out of business. Hopefully most of the
industry's jobs could move online. And it sure would save a lot of paper.

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TylerE
This is a very short-sighted view. Where do you think all those syndicated
stories that fill every online news site actually come from?

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fnordfnordfnord
Journalists?

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TylerE
That are paid by...?

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fnordfnordfnord
Sometimes they aren't[1]. Some are paid through agents. Those syndicates are
missing their opportunity to organize and solve the journalists' coordination
problems. Someone will.

[1] - [https://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/a-day-in-the-
lif...](https://natethayer.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-
freelance-journalist-2013/)

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cenhyperion
Let's all sit around and cry about how new technology replaces old business
models.

