JOUR 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Craig Newmark, Pierre Omidyar, Classified Advertising
19 Jun 2018
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Advertising, the Internet and 21st Century Journalism- The Rise of the Algorithms
Right up until 1960 there were more newspapers sold in Canada then there were households.
Television was the dominant media for entertainment. The newspaper was a manual for everyday
living, it was the dominant media for non-fiction information.
Even when people began to turn to television for nightly news, the size of newspaper newsrooms
dwarfed the television newsrooms. (Staff size)
The newspaper was equally attractive to readers, as it was to advertisers. The newspaper added more
sections to allow for more advertising. For example; the travel section. The travel section fed on
advertising, hotels, planes, countries. Or, the automotive section, real-estate section, fashion, food, etc.
All of these headings enticed the readers, but at the same time it was also expanding room for
advertising. The newspaper was a product of the imperatives of advertising.
Not a single newspaper included a labour section. We have a food network, home renovation shows,
etc. We do not have a show on how to get a job, we don’t have a show on refugees coming to Canada.
The media targets people with disposable income because this is who the advertisers want to target.
Then the newspaper had crosswords, gardening sections, stamp collection sections, the bridge column.
The specialization of newspapers was classified advertising. This was unique to newspapers. Death
notices, apartment hunting, selling things- a newspaper was the only place you could find these things.
Classified ads couldn’t be done on television.
By the end of the 20th century the newspaper was an artifact that was delivered to your doorstep. The
actual news part of the newspaper was dwarfed by advertising, etc. The newspaper sought to re sell
itself every single day. As soon as you know what the newspaper contains, it loses its value.
Even today, there are still 4 million copies of newspapers sold every day. Apart from food and cigarettes
no other industry has this many sales in Canada. The newspaper is insanely wasteful. They require
printing plants, assembly lines, distribution vehicles. This industry delivered a product that was never
consumed in its entirety. People only read fractions of the newspaper, not cover to cover. There is no
other product that people use as much as they discard it.
Television couldn’t match the local and regional coverage that was in newspapers, or the classified ads.
Pierre Omidyar: It all began with a $14.83 sale. He was a major contributor in killing the newspaper. He
launched AuctionWeb- a classified ad online. He was selling something on his homepage, and auctioned
it off (a laser pointer) for $14.83. He created what is today known as Ebay.
That same year, in 1995 Craig Newmark circulated an email list of upcoming social events to friends and
his community. As the number of subscribers to his emails grew, people started using it to post jobs. In
1996, Newmark registered the domain name Craigslist.org. That kind of website advertising can pertain
to global and regional areas. The website can be run by a very small number of staff, as opposed to
newspapers that need a lot of staff. When Craigslist began it didn’t charge people to post things on the
website.
Classified advertising which was the core of the newspaper, was becoming an online industry. It is true
that newspapers still make money from advertising. In Canada, in 2014 1.4 billion dollars was made
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Advertising, the internet and 21st century journalism- the rise of the algorithms. Right up until 1960 there were more newspapers sold in canada then there were households. The newspaper was a manual for everyday living, it was the dominant media for non-fiction information. Even when people began to turn to television for nightly news, the size of newspaper newsrooms dwarfed the television newsrooms. (staff size) The newspaper was equally attractive to readers, as it was to advertisers. The newspaper added more sections to allow for more advertising. The travel section fed on advertising, hotels, planes, countries. Or, the automotive section, real-estate section, fashion, food, etc. All of these headings enticed the readers, but at the same time it was also expanding room for advertising. The newspaper was a product of the imperatives of advertising. Not a single newspaper included a labour section. We have a food network, home renovation shows, etc.
