For Amber Lyon, CNN
I see you’ve now gotten around to requesting an interview with me or a company spokesperson, 90 days after you ambushed our namesake and founder, Craig Newmark, following his May 20th talk on veteran’s affairs and other issues unrelated to craigslist, at a conference in Washington.
You knew Craig was not in management or a company spokesperson, but setting CNN’s ethical code aside, you sidestepped company channels in favor of ambushing our semi-retired founder, complete with a misleading “set up” for your surprise questions. Now that CNN has aired your highly misleading piece dozens of times, mischaracterizing your stunt as a serious interview on this subject, and you’ve updated your “bio” to showcase this rare jewel of investigative journalism, you’re ready to try actually interviewing the company itself on this subject.
There is a class of “journalists” known for gratuitously trashing respected organizations and individuals, ignoring readily available facts in favor of rank sensationalism and self-promotion. They work for tabloid media. Your stunt has veteran news pros we know recoiling in journalistic horror, some of them chalking it up to a decline in CNN’s standards, which is unfortunate.
Seeing how you’ve pinned your career hopes on butchering this story, I’ll have to pass. If Anderson Cooper would like to come out to SF and sit with us for an interview worthy of CNN’s viewers, we’ll consider it.
Jim Buckmaster
CEO, craigslist
August 30th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
“They work for tabloid media.”
Ha ha ha. You are so naive. They work for the MSM!
The tabloid media has far more credibility that CNN or MSNBC or the NY Times.
August 30th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Unfortunately, Jim, for this post to be truly effective, it ought to be optimized for Amber Lyon’s name. That way, it will always pop up in search results when someone does searches for Amber Lyon CNN.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
[…] Off on CNN’s Amber Lyon August 30th, 2010 Craiglist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote a feisty blog post aimed at CNN’s Amber Lyon. It […]
August 30th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
This is one of the reasons that CNN and most of the major cable news networks will continue to decline. Perhaps you can get one of the other networks to do a story on what happened. I bet Fox would do it just because they love to trash CNN. And I bet they would be willing to ambush her like she did to Craig.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I agree with both points by Dan and Bruce above.
Also, Andersen Cooper is no angel.
If anyone at CNN had any integrity,
they would have corrected this issue.
But we’ve become numb to the sins of
today’s MSM.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Jim,
Seems to me you are out to butcher Amber Lyon for “ambushing” Craig on CNN. The questions weren’t that surprising or I presume new to Craig or you. She presented evidence of abusing Craigslist with illegitimate adult ads. Craig isn’t an empty mascot for the brand. He represents the Craigslist no matter how his role is characterized. He is the self-described uber customer service rep, even if semi-retired. Do adult ad issues fall under customers service?
Craig said his blog post that he is “not qualified to answer” such questions, “or even the right person to ask.” He regrets that he didn’t simply tell Amber to talk to you. OK, but he did talk to Amber, and didn’t give a good performance.
So Amber is evil for “ambushing” him and Craig is innocent, as he wrote, because he is “a hard-wired nerd with symptoms I’m told border on Asperger’s Syndrome,” and he is unqualified to answer some of the questions Amber posed. And you won’t talk to Amber presumably because she is making hay with an interview that doesn’t present Craigslist well, but you’ll talk to AC on CNN.
She brought up an issue that is supercharged–and that you have been working hard to solve. I don’t think there is doubt that you and Craig are trying your best to figure out how to eliminate illegitimate adult ads. Craig wrote: “I know our folks have worked very hard to identify and do the right thing with legitimate versus illegitimate adult service ads. From what I can tell that’s a lot more difficult to do perfectly than is being portrayed by CNN and other media. I know we’re also reaching out to lots of concerned groups and experts for help on these issues, which sure makes sense to me.”
Now 17 AGs are asking Craigslist to remove the Adult services ads. This is a battle you have been dealing with for more than a year. Last year you vowed to manually review adult adds before they appeared on the site. Some AGs don’t think you are doing enough or that the manual review isn’t working.
Is that because Amber Lyon “ambushed” Craig?
August 30th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
[…] Both Craig Newmark and Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmeister did a great job taking CNN to the woodshed, knowing that a well-written rejoinder would get the attention of newswatchers on the web (and in the era of social media – any corporate blog has potentially just as broad a reach as CNN.com): “You knew Craig was not in management or a company spokesperson, but setting CNN’s ethical code aside, you sidestepped company channels in favor of ambushing our semi-retired founder, complete with a misleading “set up” for your surprise questions. Now that CNN has aired your highly misleading piece dozens of times, mischaracterizing your stunt as a serious interview on this subject, and you’ve updated your “bio” to showcase this rare jewel of investigative journalism, you’re ready to try actually interviewing the company itself on this subject.” (More) […]
August 30th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Nicely done. Unfortunately, it’s rare to see someone with authority and a public image actually standing up to the media - but this was just that. Journalism is a sad state of affairs. Just like politicians, the media has found that it’s almost always expedient to play to extremes instead of focusing on actual substance. Thanks for calling this nitwit what she is.
August 30th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Hear, hear! I’m not surprised that an individual journalist employed by CNN should turn out to be deranged, but I am surprised and disappointed that the network would have allowed the piece to be aired even once, never mind over and over again.
August 30th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
OK, guy, but is she right? Was the ad she created manually screened or not?
August 30th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
She should move to FoxNews, where it is about sensationialization and not journalistic integrity.
I won’t listen to her again…. ever.
Bring on Anderson Cooper for the story. I know. like and trust him. He will investigate and we will hear the REAL story, good or bad for Craig’s List.
August 30th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
dbfarber,
I think you are a plant for Amber Lyon. Who writes that much in a comment?
Also, all your points are pretty silly, why don’t you say “Amber was right to ask those questions and it doesn’t matter that Craig was the wrong guy to ask.” Sadly, a real journalist will ask a credible source, and Craig Newmark, of his own admission, and of the companies, is not the right source.
The picture of journalism you paint is one which I can go and interview someone who has the last name Bush about Iraq war policies and get recognition for my interview, sadly Amber and her ilk in most media outlets are news sellers, and not reporters.
Stop trying to cover up for a saleswoman.
And Bravo to you Jim! The AG are trying to use your company to win votes, and its about time honest entrepreneurs stood up against snake tongued politicians.
August 30th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Thanks Jim .. really that needed to be said. Also Amber you should call Harvey Levin over @ TMZ .. He loves ambushes.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:50 am
As a long time user of Craigslist, people have to make a choice going to the left and looking at these personal ads. I use craigslist for it’e intended use not personal use. Craigslist is a great service and is unnecessarily being brow beaten as flavor of the day. The bad news train leaves the station and everyone looking to bolster their political image hops on board, all facts aside. For Craig Newmark to be ambushed is an example of today’s yellow journalism. Craigslist is a credible organization and they provide a great service to average Americans, such as I. The time has arrived for journalists to either go back to reporting facts, act professionally or be branded as a tabloid media. As far as the state AG’s, I can assure you Craigslist has probably a 90% popular support rating among the American people compared to the probable miserable favorable rating across the spectrum for politicians of between 10 to 20%. If there were a vote taken on this issue Craigslist would win hands down. They AG’s should back off and take Craigslist executives word that they are working to fix any issues and let them do their job. As far as CNN, they are not a news organization of any merit at this point and have evolved into what was known as a “soap” opera.
August 31st, 2010 at 6:41 am
Yay, Jim!!!
August 31st, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Hi Jim,
Suggestion:
In today’s world with the Internet, YouTube and social networking, TV journalists no longer own the message. (The only people who watch TV news anymore are my parents, and I’m 49 years old.)
Forget Anderson Cooper. He may be a good looking guy and a famous celebrity, but no good is likely to come from CNN. Use the web to get your story out to the public.
-Joe
September 1st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
CNN’s ethical code ?
Cnn still has ethical code ?
I thought they dumped them several years back.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I think this is weak and thin-skinned. Tiger Woods is always going to be asked about his affairs, no matter how much he tries to hide from it. Likewise, Craig Newmark is always going to be tied to whatever controversy is roiling his namesake creation.
That’s not to say that an ambush interview isn’t sleazy, but pouting about it won’t fix the problem. If Mr. Newmark wants to stay out of the fray, he needs to be really retired, no “semi,” and he needs to be absolutely disciplined about answering questions like this by saying, “I’m no longer an active participant in the company. I wish them well and I’m sure they’re wrestling with this difficult issue.” And then he walks away. It’s the only way it’s going to work.
September 1st, 2010 at 11:30 pm
It’s really unfair that CNN and the AGs ignore the 99.9% of men and women who post on Adult Services who are NOT underage and are NOT being trafficked. 50% of the nation now is SINGLE and fewer people are getting married. Companionship services are URGENTLY needed - which means Adult Services is urgently needed by over 150+million Americans.
CNN and the Anti-Sex-Trafficking groups are COMPLETELY ignoring men and women who are voluntarily posting there, abiding by the law by subjecting their ads for CL attorneys to review prior to going Live on CL AS.
It’s so hypocritical of women’s rights groups to call for Adult Services to close - when they do not care about the majority of legal age women working independently who will lose their jobs if they can’t advertise their companionship and massage businesses on CL. This proves that the women’s rights groups do NOT really care about the MAJORITY of women! They just want to toss these women out into the cold so that they will not have any more money to live on.
I’ll say it again - the anti-trafficking and women’s rights groups attacking Craigslist over Adult Services are nothing but hypocrites.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:17 am
Poor Amber Lyon, desperate media whore. A pathetic Nancy Grace wannabe
September 4th, 2010 at 3:57 am
I think they were doing quite a good job screening the ads so I cant understand what point the AGs are trying to make. The whole thing they complain about prostitution bringing drugs and street crime, pimping is just being helped along by keeping the business underground. you would think that the government would at least be happy people are taking it off the street and consenting from the privacy of their own place, but no, it is a moral issue to social conservatives. If prostution was legal and regulated they could provide a much safer environment for the girls. taking it offline just pushes them back on the streets and thats when the pimps go to work.
Nice going conservative AG’s, you are probably going to get your way by shutting down websites and sweeping things under the rug. Let them go underground. then lots of folks will be trafficked and you will have a much harder time identifying the traffickers.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Not so many years ago you only need to look to Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Edward R Murrow, Jim Lehrer, or Ted Koppel to see the impeccable standards in the field of braodcast journalism. That CNN would even employ such a catty and debasing figure who deigns to grovel in the lowest form of high school gotcha gossip muckraking is indicative of the seriously falling standards in the field. Anderson Cooper is barely a notch above and cannot be taken seriously himself until he opens his closet door and stops the masquerade.
It is extremely hypocritical for women’s rights groups to campaign in this regard. How can they make any case whatsoever about what any women should do with their own bodies. By making this case they undermine the basic foundation of the arguments in support of a woman’s right to choose. They also, not so inadvertently, horribly intrude on a gay man and woman’s right to seek adult services. In this they are not only callously homophobic, they also are callously indifferent and disrespectful to gay civil rights in general.
How they are so myopic to not see the greater damage they are doing. Do they seriously believe that adults will revert to church socials to meet? A person intent on harming another will find an avenue to harm another. However to eradicate all plausible venues for responsible adults only pushes them into less responsible venues and endangers more individuals in the process. Their thinking process is actually rather Neanderthal and will inflict the same Pleistocene social mores upon consenting adults. That a new’s organization with the visibility and reach of CNN would not extensively consider the impact of their message and actions is pathetic.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:51 am
It’s unbelievable that Craigslist had to take down it’s very tame ADULT SERVICES section. There are a million other U.S. sites that are MUCH more explicit… yet they’re allowed to continue unfettered.
This is selective prosecution and persecution.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:45 am
I just think its sad. Everybody is so damn worried about what everyone else is doing and they need to just worry about themselvs. Cencership is the biggest enemy this country faces with these relegious do gooders and the phoney politicians we have running this country.
Why is it any body elses buisness if someone else is buying a piece of ass. This country is so worried about being “politacally correct” well I say fuck them if you have something to say say it and if your feelings get hurt run home to mommy and she will wipe the tears away.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:15 am
The last thing I ever thought I would ever see is Craigslist caving to the conservative nut jobs in media, there are a lot of honest people making an honest living in this arena, thinking about opening a soup kitchen Craig?
September 4th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Okay, so why did Craigslist back down and shut down the adult services section? Bad PR leaving this hanging like this - no explanation, no blog, nothing. Makes me think you guys whimped out on us.
September 4th, 2010 at 11:24 am
I just read where you guys took off the adult section. i’m sad to see you bend over to a few..Didn’t you do this once before? Yes I think you bent over and took off erotic section. Did that make everyone happy? NO. CL is never going to make the far right happy on this issue.. You should run your business like you see fit and stop letting everyone else dictate to you what you let people post.. The internet is unigue,because everyone can have a voice and post anything they want to. Thats what america is all about. The Attorney Generals need to get off their ass and do their jobs if they think crime is being committed from CL postings.. Craiglist is in NO WAY responsible for what people do after they get aquanted from a CL posting.. You AGs Quite wining and do your damn job..
September 4th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Jim:
I love CraigsList, and I think you’re entirely correct that it is being unfairly targeted for these adult services ads, when so many other sites and magazines have the very same thing.
However, I also think you may be too close to this issue, because it doesn’t seem like your public response is appropriate, from a public relations standpoint.
Let’s set it straight: Craig was a total disaster in that CNN interview. Perhaps the reporter should not have ambushed him, and perhaps he has some social disorder as he said on his blog, but for goodness sake, he IS the “Craig” in Craigslist, so if he is not capable of speaking on behalf of the company, he should either know to direct all questions to someone else….or if he is too naive to do so, then he should not be out in public without a PR person at his side! I’m not kidding. I love the guy’s work and causes, and I truly love CraigsList, but let’s call it like it was…that interview was a total train wreck.
There is CERTAINLY an argument to be made that the CNN reporter should not have ambused him in the way she did, but attacking HER now only makes you guys look defensive and petty. The fact is…she went to the namesake of the site who any reasonable person would think could speak on behalf of it…and he had no response. Attacking her is a horrible idea.
Instead, mount a P.R. defense! Get on the cable news circuit and try to get back on top of the story. Show what you have done to protect minors, rather than just directing people to your blog. The public needs to see a friendly face from Craigslist who can take some responsibility, and quit being so defensive.
Did you WATCH that reporter’s story? Again, I’m not defending her tactics, but the story is BRUTAL. She shows all this evidence of adult services postings with keywords that seem to hint at “young” or “innocent”, and have pics of very near explicit images. You can talk all you want about screening those ads better, but it doesn’t help your story to say that, and then see what actually got BY the screeners!
Not to mention….your M4M and M4W sections are full of escort ads more than ever now…with words like generous, donations, gen-r-us, or “100 roses” being used as code.
Personally, I think any consenting adult should be able to do whatever the hell they want with another consenting adult, but this story is NOT about the merits of free choice. It’s about whether you want your company to be branded as a whorehouse, rather than cited for all the incredibly amazing services and causes it offers and supports.
Hire a P.R. person, for goodness sake. You seriously need one.
And this comes from a liberal fan of your site, so imagine what those who don’t give a crap about CL think.
Hire a P.R. person. Today.
Andy
September 4th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I posted this on her facebook… I think that you know exactly what this is being used for but were unfairly singled out… that’s for taking steps in preventing the prostitution. Hi Amber, I think that although disgusting focusing on Craigslist postings alone isn’t enough and targeting people in an ambush questioning style isn’t very professional ethical way of obtaining information. A better question would have bee…n to ask is if they enjoy helping society degrade themselves. Keep in mind your phone rang off the hook for two days… this speaks to a larger problem something that one successful website isn’t going to stop, you should know this - you have slowed the descent perhaps on craiglists. Enjoy the 15 minutes on this story as you have missed the mark completely they will simply go elsewhere… have you ever googled escorts? Is google’s mere act of indexing these sites contributing to the problem? Why don’t you try asking the same questions you asked Craig to the google founders. You butchered the REAL story and missed the mark completely I would hope you would follow this up with a REAL story about internet prostitution. Score one for having it censored too bad that you couldn’t have the balls to look at the larger picture… comments been time stamped and captured.
September 4th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
oh yeah amber KICK ROCKS!!! running around like u found bin ladin r sum shit !!!! LOL
September 4th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Blah blah blah…..Amber Lyon CRUSHED YOU!@ Craig LMAO! You sat there looking like a fucking IDIOT under a hot spotlight. Her questions were VERY valid. I can’t believe they allow ads to post RATES & half NUDE PICS! When others can’t even get a simple picture up with just a f*cking phone number in the text.
I agree that shutting CL down isn’t going to stop a damn thing..BUT I am so glad it’s GONE! Because CL has become so f*cking difficult to work with. CL brings in the most traffic & in result, the most money. A girl can make $1000-$1300 a day off CL clients alone (well my girls do *lol*). So for most of us, the majority of our income comes from CL ads. So when CL constantly rejects ads, or take hours (and sometimes a whole day) to approve or reject ads can cause us to lose a lot of money yanno. Nt to mention you cannot post more than one pic, links to your website, AND your pics look choppy & blurred once uploaded to cl.
Now that CL erotic services section is gone WE (providers & agency owners) can breath easy. There are a top 7 (now top 6) website dedicated to escorts ads & we can now use them & make just as much money. Because now the CL is gone they will be getting ALL the overflow.
R.I.P Craigslist Erotic Ads!!!
September 4th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I don’t think its the far right as much as the feminists that are howling at the moon over the adult section. Doesn’t matter. My nona use to say that ‘the world would be a much better place if everyone minded their own business’. Nona was right. So MYOFB.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
i watched cnn and caught amber’s ambush. i think it was disgusting and she should mind her business. craigslist will handle their business and although every business strives for perfection, everyone know it is unachievable in reality!
it was obviously a show of sensationalism and a try for career move. i think craig handled it well. this c_nt should go back to what ever rock she crawled out from. dispicable.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
When I hear the phrase “MSM,” I reach for my revolver — or perhaps, more accurately, my bottle of scotch, because I know nothing at all intelligent is going to be said for several minutes. The people who bandy that inane acronym around inevitably know not a damn thing about modern journalism or what it’s like to work in that world.
Yes, my dear shed-dwelling gun-cradling Montanan friends, the mainstream media is f***ed up, but it’s not f***ed up in the ways you think it is, or for the reasons you think it is, and it’s not the monolithic force you think it is.
But ah well, nuance is the first thing to go when you become a fringe loonie and start letting thought-terminating cliches like “mainstream media” do all the thinking for you. Be careful out their, kids, and don’t let the MSM Illuminati slip mind-control drugs into your corn flakes!
September 4th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Can somebody give Amber Lyon something to do like save some starving kid’s instead of playing with these woman’s livelihood..so what if there’s prostitutes on craigslist?..would you rather them stand on street corners exposed to the elements? I think that the princess needs to find another hobby and stay out of peoples lives…let them make a living whatever way they can sex is natural..prostitutes have always been around..Get over it.
September 4th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
I don’t know Craig’s official policy, but I do agree with what I presume is their net neutrality, live and let live policy. Adult services should be made available to Adults and the government and CNN should stay out of peoples sex lives as long as ADULTS are involved. I can’t wait for jurisdictions to realize that they cannot legislate morality and learn from the Mormon’s and their financing of Vegas and turn these ‘presumed’ sins into a revenue stream. That is the American way. Make the Adult girls come forward, out of the shadows, and pay an annual fee to cover registration, taxes and monthly health checks.
September 4th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Many of you are disapointed that craigslist is caving in to the pressure being exerted by 17 AGs (soon to be several more I believe), CNN and numerous other interest groups. Can we really expect craigslist with about 30 employees to continue to fight this very one sided battle? I just hope the Craig and Jim don’t decide that life is too short to continue to expose themselves to this very unfair abuse (you don’t see these same groups going after the many web sites which are much worse than craigslist in exploiting women and young girls) and sell out to the highest bidder. If I lived in one of the states where my AG is going after craigslist (and not other offenders) I would let him or her know that I didn’t appreciate them using my tax money to persecute craigslist for their own political gain and that they would never get my vote. So why don’t we all do that?
September 4th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
It is totally disgusting that our elected representatives are becoming the thought police!!! Who do they really represent??? The CNN Nazis should stop trying to send honest adults who post and use CL adult services to their right wing conservative gas chamber. Why don’t they really do something to help society and get all the little boys out of the politician’s and religious zealots closets!!!
September 4th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
To be honest, when I saw that report on CNN, the first thing I did was check out the adult listings on craigslist. I got excited, called a few numbers and used the service. I wouldn’t have heard of it, if it wasn’t for Amber Lyon!
The media chooses to pretend that we don’t want to have sex, there is far too much extremism, the rest of the world doesn’t care…they simply don’t. This site is a marketplace, removing the listings won’t take away the ‘problem’, it will make the women that sell themselves post elsewhere.
Why not go after Bill Gates for allowing windows to have adult content, or the CEO of AOL and Intel for letting the internet have porn.
Everyone wants to be righteous because we know we’re not!
Peace and love, peace and love.
September 4th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
I wonder if the 17 AG are also going to force phone books and newspapers to censor the ads for prostitution? How about all the “streetwalkers” that you find on almost every corner during the night? I believe they should also be censored.
It is nice to know that these people have nothing better to do with their time than force a company to censor their adult section, but neglect to force other sources that are just are readily available to do the same. It is not only sad, but really pathetic. There are more serious issues for the 17 AG to focus their time and energy on, and sadly this is not one of them.
And might i add that speaking with Anderson Cooper wouldn’t be such a great idea. The people who constantly watch CNN/FOX and the other propaganda news channels are not only lacking common sense and good judgement, they also lack intelligence (note - does not apply to all). The better option would be to use the internet, as others have suggested, to get the story out. Once the story picks up, it will move like wild fire on the internet, and will most definitely have more success than AC360.
I wish Craigslist the best, and hope you guys win!
September 4th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Disregard what Amber Lyon tried to convince the audiences her “interview” and her “news reel” were worthy of our attentions in the subject matter, one can’t help but to notice her less than genuine questioning approach and her insincere journalist ethic. There must be a classier way to do an exposé report with conviction!
September 5th, 2010 at 12:02 am
CNN and almost all their reporters are a disgrace for journalism freedom and democracy.I am tired of this manipulation ,of lies and jewish propaganda on what is suppose to be a News network.What a disgrace !
I strongly support Adam Ross post
I posted this on her facebook… I think that you know exactly what this is being used for but were unfairly singled out… that’s for taking steps in preventing the prostitution. Hi Amber, I think that although disgusting focusing on Craigslist postings alone isn’t enough and targeting people in an ambush questioning style isn’t very professional ethical way of obtaining information. A better question would have bee…n to ask is if they enjoy helping society degrade themselves. Keep in mind your phone rang off the hook for two days… this speaks to a larger problem something that one successful website isn’t going to stop, you should know this - you have slowed the descent perhaps on craiglists. Enjoy the 15 minutes on this story as you have missed the mark completely they will simply go elsewhere… have you ever googled escorts? Is google’s mere act of indexing these sites contributing to the problem? Why don’t you try asking the same questions you asked Craig to the google founders. You butchered the REAL story and missed the mark completely I would hope you would follow this up with a REAL story about internet prostitution. Score one for having it censored too bad that you couldn’t have the balls to look at the larger picture… comments been time stamped and captured.
September 5th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Haha. A CEO that isn’t a pushover! I never thought I’d see one…
September 5th, 2010 at 10:41 am
First off, why is this even an issue? Why do they not go after all the local papers that have the same type of listings if this is such a bad thing. Or better yet, why not simply regulate the industry - it might actually help the economy. It seems the prudish hypocritical right, along with the hypocritical christian sects are running this country into the ground. Let’s just take a simple subject, sensationalize the hell out of it and sell more commercial time in doing so. This is capitalism at work, isn’t it. But it all is totally useless information. They always come up with this crap about “protecting our children…. blah, blah, blah” - perhaps it’s simply the lazy parents that need to be brow beaten into keeping a better eye on their “children”. It’s ok to shoot, mame, kill, show gore and you name it on prime time TV, but god forbid you show some booty! People, get a life and go away. You obviously have no life if this is the biggest issue in your life.
Simply put - this is infringement on 1st Amendment. It is quite simply advertising - and usually more accurate that many of the corporate ads you are forced to watch on the boob tube. - They lie about products, warranties, guarantees and anything else you can think about - but here, they simply advertise that you will honestly get screwed. Hey, now that’s honest and quite simply “truth in advertising”.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
First Google caves to censorship in China, now CraigsList caves to cencorship in America. Regardless of your position on the “adult” section of CL, the fact that a major website caves in to censorship demands is disheartening.
As my mother used to say, if you don’t like what’s being shown (on TV) turn it off. The same is true for the Web. If you don’t like something, don’t visit the site.
I wish CL had more guts to stand up for itself and not bow to censorship. Freedom of information, freedom to distribute, freedom….that’s what makes America great. Craigs List’s management has taken a bit of freedom away based on their censorship response to outsiders.
September 5th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Just watched the CNN video. A few things were abundantly clear. First, Ms. Lyon was very unprofessional and is obviously seeking attention. The number of cuts in the video showed that they were making a point a la Michael Moore without regard to the truth. She kept interrupting Craig and clearly wasn’t really interested in what he had to say on the matter. I’ve known CNN is crap ever since I was living in Macedonia and saw firsthand their pathetic and completely inaccurate reporting on the Kosovo conflict. They have always been a wanna be news organization that apparently prefers to employ a pretty face rather than a serious journalist.
Whether or not Craigslist should have an adult section is a valid question. If Ms. Lyon had asked the question in an intelligent manner and fairly reported Craig’s response, I’d have no problem with the interview even if he’s not the official spokesperson for the company. However, this piece of trash “journalism” only proves that CNN, not Craigslist is the organization that truly needs to be censored.
September 5th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Amber Lyon was totally out of line. Sher works for big media. The Attorney Generals are being paid of by media outlets that have sufferred huge losses because of Craigslist. Big media companies have a lot to gain by shutting Craigslist out. These companies have seen their ad revenues dwindle because of Craigslist. They have given campaign cotributions to the Attorney Generals. The Attorney Generals are returning the favor to big media outlets and other donors by intiimidating Craigslist. It’s unfortunate that there is so much corruption in our government.
September 5th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I just read about the censorship of adult services on this site, and I am appalled (but not surprised) by the audacity of these people. There are two major points in my opinion that show the utter lack of foresight on the side of the AG’s who are taking action.
First, the fact that they are singling out craigslist, is completely unethical and unconstitutional. There are many sites, magazines, and other media that publishes the same exact types of ads. Many of which are exclusively used for posting ads for prostitution. All one has to do is perform a simple internet search to find these sites, or even walk down the street to the newspaper machines to find the free printed publications. Now, I can understand the government trying to crack down on prostitution, but they need to act lawfully. If they want to remove the ability for prostitutes to ply their trade through modern media, then they need to focus on laws that would prevent the publishing of such ads on websites and publishers as a whole, instead of attacking one site for it’s alleged misconduct, just because it is higher profile (thanks to unethical, fear mongering reporters).
The second point brought up in an earlier response, is that by making such laws they inevitably create more problems than they have solved. Local law enforcement agencies will have a tougher time cracking down on prostitution, it’s much easier, and uses much less manpower for law enforcement to catch prostitutes and those who seek such services, by utilizing and working with sites like craigslist and backpage. Though I doubt the other sites and magazines would be so helpful. Another problem that would arise from such laws would be the fact that these prostitutes would be on the streets, creating not only more work for police, but also making the streets less safe, and in some areas may even drive property values down even more.
This certainly isn’t a comprehensive list, but I think these are most definitely the greatest points of contention I have with these ignorant, self serving idiots.
Every year I become more and more disenchanted with both our government and the media. I am at the point (as I am sure many intelligent Americans are) where I have absolutely no faith or trust in these people. This country was founded on a constitution that is nowadays all but totally disregarded or abused by our government.
Furthermore, the freedom of press has been so thoroughly abused by todays reporters that it has become nothing more than an excuse for them to do and write whatever they want, regardless of it’s truthfulness. They act with out any of the morals and ethics that the press should (and at one time did) have. A reporter has an obligation be unbiased and report only on the facts. Isn’t that supposed to be the ethical foundation that all reporters are taught? I know I was when I took journalism.
September 6th, 2010 at 12:11 am
For years CL has offered useful and valuable services at no cost to people everywhere. Since its inception CL has become an obvious thorn in the eye of many publishing and advertising companies in this country. The same services that CL now offers to many people at no cost previously were offered only through newspaper publishing companies at outrageous fees. CL changed this unfair and disadvantageous monopoly by offering a fair and equitable platform for everyone to connect and engage with one-another. This came at a hefty price for publishing companies and their greedy shareholders. Lesser advertising revenues for these conglomerates that for decades had become so used to easy stream of pure profits, was simply unimaginable.
So they went to work, and work they did. These tyrants quickly realized that if there is one subject that always captures America’s twisted puritan imaginations, is sex. The worlds oldest profession, or should we say humanity’s first inter-action has continued to remain a subject of obsession for our sexually misguided and frustrated nation. Whereas every civilized corner of this world has realized the human need and natural desire for sexual encounters, not to mention the respect for sanctity of individual’s rights, we in the United States have taken the opposite course. A course mangled in hypocrisy, double talk and confusion. At a time that our country is almost at the bottom of the list of industrial countries providing basic services for their citizens, at a time that so many of our mothers and children live below poverty level and lack basic human essentials, such as housing, food, medicine, access to simple vaccinations and a just healthcare system, our insatiable appetite for activities in other people’s bedrooms seems to grow in size by the minute.
Yes, at a time that our children can buy deadly drugs cheaper than their parents can buy cigarettes, our police force is consumed by setting up stings to arrest and criminalize men for not having sex with a non-prostitute. Our beloved officials and masters of laws are obsessed with our sexual activities. Our police force, our lawyers, our judges, our politicians, our doctors, our ministers, our teachers, are not consumed by protecting our citizens, our women and our men in a fair and civilized manner, but consumed by further victimizing them in our corrupt criminal justice system. The sentence of “to protect and to serve”, simply is not extended to a battered woman whose society has neglected her civil rights by failing to provide her safety and security. Let us be very clear that sex slavery and abuse of woman in sex trade is a by-product of ilegalization. Whereas prostitution will never end, the abuse of victims in this trade can come to an end, if we only were willing to do away with our Dark Ages mentality, and allow our citizens the freedom to choose and the right to be protected, indiscriminately, each and every time.
And hence, why target CL? Why not the other ten thousand or so web publishers of sexual encounters? Needless to say, the ultimate evil of all is money. Our beloved corporate run publishing and advertising giants never really care about our country’s social issues, and sex slavery is no different to that rule. Corporate puppet reporters, such as Amber Lyon of CNN, are just that, a tool, and a means to an end. An end to inexpensive or free advertising!
September 6th, 2010 at 5:35 am
Thankfully, many of these posts reflect intelligent people recognizing pathetic attempts at ‘muckraking’ journalism. Actually, those seeking sensationalism that flies in the face of fact do not deserve the appelation of ‘journalist’. These days we see far too much of the same reprehensible trashing of journalistic responsibility in media coverage of politics, and civic movements. There is no value to these antics, and responsible people should show their disdain for the practitioners by making ignoring the outlet. Don’t tune the channel, buy the publication, and ignore the bleating when we relegate them to insignificance, as the practitioners of ‘muckraking’ journalism seem to have a very high opinion of themselves, a sort of ‘elitist’ understanding that only they can discern their ridiculous ‘truths’, by their distortion and obfuscation of facts. Making them insignificant is their worst nightmare, as it deprives them of their misguided ‘platform’.
September 6th, 2010 at 6:16 am
If these attorneys general were truly serious, they’d be going after the publishers of every telephone directory in the country. Instead, they pounce on Craigslist in an election year.
September 6th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Keep fighting the good fight, Jim!
Between sleezy journalists and morally vacuous AGs (Huh, is an election near? Just throw the rubes some red meat, right, AGs?), CL seems to be taking it from all sides.
Please reopen the Adult section, but with a twist: Feature only re-election ads for the 17 AGs harrassing CL in the section. Also, post a disclaimer that this is the first time in CL’s history that it knowingly posted ads of legitimate prostitutes.
September 6th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Yup, everyone knows CNN’s cheap brand of journalism is best ignored. But I’m very disappointed in CL for bowing to the attys general. CL, welcome to your new low.
September 6th, 2010 at 8:57 am
What a wonderful way to respond to Attys General who are pressuring Craigslist to remove adult services. I think the “CENSOR” response was absolutely brilliant.
September 6th, 2010 at 11:28 am
I couldn’t agree with you more! I saw this “story” air while I was sitting in the airport (since I never intentionally watch CNN.) It made me want to gag… I spent the next four hours of my flight shaking my head in disbelief. My favorite was the insinuation that craigslist was facilitating the marketing of underage prostitutes and other dubious sex crimes. Anyone who’s used Craigslist knows that this is absolutely absurd.
(Hey, doesn’t the internet serve as a platform for all kinds of illegal acts? Why don’t they just shut down the internet… that would solve everything, right?) Gimme a break!
This is government run amok, and Craigslist probably won’t be its last victim, I’m sorry to say…
September 6th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
I remember when CNN was worth watching. Real news with real investigative reporting. Now it seems like fluff and bubblegum that just regurgitates itself every fifteen minutes. Amber “who”?
As for the censorship issue; I find it sad that a few conservative nutjobs can have this much of an impact. If you don’t like it…. tune out!
Bad things happen to people everywhere and censorship of any website will not stop it.
September 6th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I am from San Francisco and for many years, I used craigslist’s erotic services section. It was safer than the street version and at least traceable if something violent would have happened to me. It makes me sick that the rest of the country can’t appreciate this type of sexual freedom that we have here on the west coast. I certainly don’t agree with the way conservative christian groups sell bibles and prostitute scripture but you don’t see me interfering with their lives. It is ridiculous. LIVE AND LET LIVE.
September 6th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Remember this is an election year. Most of the Attorney General’s who are raising this point are up for re-election. What better way to get coverage by the national media and thus free campaign ads (aka ‘news reports’) for their re-election efforts. Pretty cheap campaining if you ask me.
There is a belief by the ‘far right/christian’ groups that seem to think if you don’t talk about it, or push it back into the alley, it won’t happen. Kinda like ‘abstinenec only’ works so well.
Let them live in their little foggy world. Let them hide their heads in the sand and deny that the real world exists.
This was a case of a small time reporter trying to get a springboard to fame and fortune on the backs of someone considered vulnerable because the DA’s trying to get Cragslist to shut down the service.
September 6th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
The First Amendment does not condone bullying anyone into giving up their freedoms of speech. You shouldn’t have caved in on this issue.
September 6th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I think Craigslist totally reflects the world we live in today. With 50 million users your gonna have some bad apples.
Yes I have worked craigslist and have been robbed 8 times since I began using cl. I do not blame cl for this happening. The times I did call the cops to report the REAL CRIME they refused to do anything stating that I brought it on myself. So it’s not ok for a hooker to work for a living, but it is ok for a thief to rob her of her days wages without fear of repercussions as most women would never dream of calling the cops. Well we know why and the fact is that the cops won’t do shit.
Minors being pimped on craigslist? Lets go after their parents because the parents should be responsible for their children. Minors left hours on end to be pimped on cl, should raise huge red flag to cops about child neglect and possible abandonment.
Arrest and Release? Cops can’t keep these low lifes in jail so they go after sites like craigs list? I think cops should consider huge bonds to ensure these pimps stay in jail longer so THEY learn their lessons. Cops, state attorneys, and city officials can’t do their job, so they go after craig?
CNN? The news headlines you losers have been running lately have been a huge bust, and due to your lack of work you put far too much effort into craigslist? In your attempt to take down craigslist, you are also effecting the bottom line for many women who fight daily to stay off welfare and keep food on the tables for their kids. Far more kids are going to suffer with adult ads gone when their mothers can’t meet the bills now that their cash cow has died.
Craig, To hell with CNN, To hell with all those state attorneys, to hell with all the media bullies. Bring adult back so women can keep living and surviving the best way we can.
Tammy
September 6th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
What happened to the Adult Gigs section? It’s just gone, doesn’t even have a “Censored” stamp.
Legalize prostitution, you hypocritical Elliot Spitzers who have been attacking Craigslist!
September 6th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
I warned you that you could not make these attorney Generals happy..Sure enough,while watching ABC news this evening they ran a story on CL censoring the adult section and how many have started posting on the casual encounters section..One of the AGs that they interviewed said that now they want CL to delete that section as well…Once Censorship finds an opening it never lets up until everything is gone..In other words,these idiots will never be happy until CL takes down the site..You should not bow down to these guys..You should put up the adult section again..Better yet, put up an adult section and a erotic section..
September 6th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
It might be necessary to go directly to the top of CNN to find out what is wrong with their management that they would hire a yutz like Amber Lyon.
So, let’s go ask CNN’s founder, TED TURNER about all of this.
Maybe Ted and Craig can sit down and talk about all the current operating procedures for the giants that they started, and are surely always 100% responsible for until they die.
But seriously folks…
I’m getting really sad that CNN is becoming such a bunch of slackers. Amber Lynn seems to have some kind of dirt on a CNN exec for the kind of leverage she’s been given on such an obviously under-researched story. I am neither a professional journalist nor an expert on Craigslist. But even I could tell you that Craig Newmark, though a terrific person from all I have read off site of him, is not the correct person to question about the current day-to-day operations at the company he started.
So what am I to do? Do I stop watching CNN because they are running “gotcha” yellow crap about Craigslist, running and re-running the same stale “specials” like the Atlanta Child Murders, and continuing to employ nearly illiterate morons like Rick “Ron Radio” Sanchez because he’s handsome, has a booming phony InfoMercial voice and comes from Cuba? They choose their newsreaders like a 13yo girl chooses boyfriends. Guess where Glen Beck worked before Fox? Yes, CNN. I knew they were going downhill the first time I saw that moron spew his vitriol in his little commentary segment. When they moved him to Headline News, I thought, ‘Well, I hate that they’re still employing that fool, but at least I don’t watch HLN!”
It’s now getting to the point where I can’t watch TV news anymore. No one cares about the truth. They only want opinionated trash-talk.
I don’t use Craigslist to meet people or to do anything illegal, but if I did, I would feel the same way about this without bais: CL should not be censored and the AGs doing so should be sued for infringement of CLs first Ammendment Rights. Seriously, CL should fight back and make it personal. Nail these AGs and the staff people who are helping them. It is a CRIME to misuse government power this way.
September 6th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Dear Jim,
I admire your protest by putting the word “Censored” in place of “Adult Services”.
However, it would be best if your protest ended at some time and the “Adult Services” section be put up again. You are harming sex workers by denying them a venue, and driving the economy further into the ground.
Eckhart
September 6th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Good job. Now the CL Adult ads will be posted elsewhere on another site thus diversifying the methods of advertising. More work for investigators to do in the event of a tragedy.
Short sighted liberals at work, once again.
September 7th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Jim,
Make these AGs take you folks to court. THEY WILL LOOSE . In Carafano v Matchmaker.com The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the personal profile information published on Matchmaker’s service is solely up to the user’s discretion and the company is immune from the lawsuit, the AP reported.
Now I don’t see these state AGs suing Phone Companies for allowing prostitutes to use their service to do business. Every site that has reported this issue 99% of the readers say screw the AGs. Even the Conservative sites are siding with you.
I say not only bring back FREE erotic services but file a multi billion Dollar lawsuit against the states when they lose in court.
Oh and how about a VICE COP section where folks can post photos of Vice Cops?
September 7th, 2010 at 2:01 am
It’s unbelievable that Craigslist had to take down it’s very tame ADULT SERVICES section. There are a million other U.S. sites that are MUCH more explicit… yet they’re allowed to continue unfettered.
September 7th, 2010 at 4:55 am
HEADLINE! Media whore gets moist chasing down story on whores.
Run that baby!
September 7th, 2010 at 8:51 am
I’ve had it with CNN crap, they are trying desperately to enhance their market share with sensationalism and “sex exposés” designed to “titillate.”
They have never done anything for charity as Craigslist has contributed, they are prone to report anything based on their invented “facts,” and they attempt anything to raise their profile as a “responsible” service.
They belong in the sewer, where they’ll stay
September 7th, 2010 at 9:07 am
By the way put “adult services” back in, please.
Craigslist is COMMUNITY based, a community that does a good job of policing itself.
Craigslist does not need the policing of State Attorney’s General (who have a lot more to do with their time than look at “enticing” service ads, don’t they?), Craigslist does not need the policing of petticoat activists who need to keep themselves from looking at things things they don’t like rather than be the moral guardians of “everybody else,” and most of all Craigslist does not need to be Community-based online censoring service.
September 7th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Short sighted liberals? Seriously? Try short sighted politicians period. Looking for points in the polls. Those against this on the far right have had a bigger voice than any liberal. Either way its politics playing the bad guy role in this PERIOD.
September 7th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Many of you have indicated that you think that Craigslist is being unfairly targeted and that you would like them to hold their ground and fight back. I agree in theory but is that realistic? Can we expect Craigslist with limited resources and a total staff of about 30 to take on about 20 state AGs using tax payers money and the state and national media often backed by our politicians. State AGs who are trying to get reelected or move on to a higher office find Craigslist to be a convenient whipping boy and some of their supporters along with the print and national news media would like to drive Cdraigslist and similar web sites out of business. If we, the happy users of Craigslist don’t want that to happen maybe we had better start putting pressure on our elected officials and the news media to stop their piling on every time any bad press about Craigslist comes out. We are all capable of contacting our AG’s office and news media like CNN via the internet. Why don’t we do that to help Craigslist continue to provide millions of customers with their valuable service?
September 7th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
David, please explain your reasoning about “liberals”??
Perhaps you need to know that Republicans, and only Republicans, campaigned on and for this stupidity.
September 7th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I always wonder why Craiglist fights so adamantly for their “adult services” section. Its actually painfully clear…
The “adults services” keeps Craigslist in the news. Craiglist probably only became what it is, in large part, due to “adult services” and all the attention.
Now I see, most offering support are hookers or johns LOL.
Who gives a crap? Craigslist offers job listings and garage sale quality overpriced used, cat hair and dust mite covered goods. R&R cant be matched anywhere else and the politics section is the best. If you only use Craigslist for hookers and child porn then you seriously need to reevaluate your life plan…
Of course as hard as you guys fight against “censorship” all my comments are deleted…Bravo, I say, keep up the good fight!… On top of that my account has been “on hold” for over a year. Soooo STFU about it and adapt like everything else that succeeds in this ridiculous country.
September 7th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I never watched Amber Lyon on CNN, but she looks just great. Like every website, which needs content and design, CNN also needs content (good journalists) and design (Amber Lyon).
With respect to adult services, closing this category will not stop prostitution. It is all about politics and gaining points. I personally think you should put “Freedom Of Speech” instead of “Censored”, and point it to page listing people and authorities caused this. At least these people will gain their “real” points.
September 7th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
http://www.pcworld.com/article/165345/craigslist_prostitution_ring_busted.html
In the indictment unsealed this week, Cuomo alleges that Room Service Entertainment employed “numerous bookers, drivers and prostitutes.
“Although [the company] initially advertised in The Village Voice and other local papers, Craigslist became the sole vehicle through which the company operated,” according to a release from Cuomo’s office.
wow
nice investigative reporting job amber.
not only did you interview the wrong guy, it appears you went after the wrong company.
THE EVIDENCE filed in court stated that the village voice and “other local PAPERS’ were actually the ones who were the starting point of this major prostitution ring.
craigslist was a more popular site, so they moved over to craigslist, just like everybody else has in every single industry.
But clearly in the public court documents of this case, craigslist was NOT the “root” of the problem. The ring moved over to craigslist because it was a more popular site, but it was then BUSTED, because CRAIGSLIST actually took steps to stop this sort of activity. Had the village voice or “other local papers” taken those steps, that ring would’ve never gotten the chance to go infest craigslist but when they did, they were STOPPED, amber.
Thats just one case, but if you INVESTIGATE, you’ll see many others. MANY MANY MANY prostitution busts on craigslist, MOST of which were never busted on the “other local papers” even though they advertised there FIRST.
Obviously the “other local papers” are upset they are no longer getting $150 weekly from the prositution ads they were so happily publishing before craigslist stole their market share. I dont remember them ever screaming about the sex industry advertisements until they stopped getting their cut of that pie.
They aren’t the morality police… They have no morals and now they have no money. Broke immoral swine would be the more appropriate term.
Thank you Craigslist for putting people BEFORE money. May you reap what you sow just as deservedly as the “other local papers” have done for themselves.
CRAIG FOR PRESIDENT !!!!
September 7th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Seems easy to me - have a craigslist where people like me can go to actually buy and sell products…and have a craigslust where people can go and be, uh, well, immoral.
September 7th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Indeed Eckart….At the very least my consumption of lube, condoms and laundry detergent alone is supporting the local economy.
Seriously, I like many other sex workers do this as a side job to help offset the losses felt in our other work. I have a regular career but times are tough and I cant survive on what that brings in alone.
Should I get a part time low wage job instead? Of course, there are so many jobs available so why not?
Trust me, I weighed all the other options before CHOOSING to do this.
My landlord, pg&e, att, my local electric company, Trader Joes, CVS, and many more really hope you reinstate your Adult Services section soon.
So does the art supply store I use, the movie theaters I attend, the local farmers markets I support, and yes even a shoe store once in a while. These and many more businesses rely on the income they garner from those of us who can still participate. I prefer to participate.
Its good for the economy, dummies.
Everything I do is consensual. I’m a mature, intelligent woman who chose an option that made the most sense to me.
If Amber Lyon wants to find the bad guys of human trafficking she should look into the Russian and Asian mobs who are the main perpetrators.
It is estimated that 2/3 of women trafficked for prostitution worldwide annually come from Eastern Europe.
You’re sniffing up the wrong tree Amber.
Oh and lets never have a discussion about what makes men wish to purchase obviously unwilling women/men and children for their “pleasure”
Amber Lyon, do you think getting Craigslist to cave to this pressure will make these crimes go away??
September 7th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
First, sex work is an honorable profession and outlawing it has nothing to do with child trafficking or even health issues. The objections to this are due to one group attempting to impose it’s moral view …on everyone else.
Of all people, we, the fans of Craigslist should be aware of oppression by others attempting to impose their morals and views.
There are other laws in place to protect children and adults from being trafficked and even health issues… and it’s the job of law enforcement to enforce them. Law enforcement has no place in the non-harmful and victimless actions of consenting adults.
Craigslist is a place for people to post free ads. Craigslist has about 30 staff to manage the process of displaying the 50 million ads posted worldwide each month. The bulk of the process is automated as it would have to be for that ratio of staff to ads. Even the choice of which ads stay up and the process of removing ads which are either in violation of the site’s rules or offensive to enough readers are given into the hands of the readers through the flagging process - which is also automated, staff never sees any part of the flagging process unless problems arise. As a result, it’s fair to state that Craigslist is not promoting, let alone facilitating anything that might constitute a crime here. If anything, it is each and every reader who views a ‘hooker’ ad and fails to flag it that is condoning and even promoting that activity.
Craigslist is about as close to a direct, participatory democracy as anything I’ve seen. And it’s primary business is the use of the First Amendment to the Constitution to allow citizens to say what they want - with few exceptions. It’s even a non-profit that charges for ads only in certain categories and locations to pay for hardware, electricity, data connections and the salaries of the skeleton crew staff. Craig started it as a hobby and as a gift to the public after making millions in the dot com boom, that’s why it’s non-commercial.
So it seems that the readers involved in those 20 *Billion* page views per month have not found the erotic services ads to be offensive enough to choose to remove them. And specific cases of child porn or trafficking, etc. should be handled by law enforcement personnel.
Please note that the ‘erotic services’ sections are still up in most of the international locations where they were present before - without the blue-nosed religious crowd imposing their own non-universal views on society and trying to get them imposed on all of us through the legal system.
It would be my hope to have Craig and Jim open back up the erotic services section and tell law enforcement to do their job of finding those people who are actually breaking harmful laws and leave consenting adults alone.
Or since it was a gift and it’s a non-profit anyway, maybe Craig/Jim/whoever is in charge should just make an executive decision and turn the whole site off tomorrow, all of it, from the top on down… and sit in blissful schadenfreude listening to the screams. As much as I enjoy the site, I’d love to see the effect for even one day. If nothing else, just the whimpering of the arrogant car and furniture dealers who aren’t even supposed to be on there would bring me great joy.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:14 am
As a provider on CL adult services for the past four years I would like to say that I have NEVER had any trouble whatsoever with the clients I got from CL. I am college educated and have a BS in Chemistry and I’m working on my Masters degree. All advertisers on CL are not “Ho’s”.
On average I received a minimum of two new clients per day from CL. My CL clients were all educated professional gentlemen who I enjoyed spending time with. These men just needed an escape from the pressures of the daily grind and some relaxation.
Perhaps before they took the section down CL should have gotton feedback from the advertisers who pay their salaries.
As a consequence from this rapes are going to skyrocket. Street walkers are going to increase by the tens of thousands across the country. Not to mention that a $250 BILLION cash flow has just be removed from the U.S. economy.
Thanks Amber Lyon of CNN!
September 8th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Jim, thanks for this post, and pass the word to Craig - thanks to him for outing CNN’s glory-seeking urnalists. I’m a reporter but I’ve left more than one job when the shop turned out to be more interested in boosting their reputation, their ego and their fortunes (which in many cases have recently crumbled I’m glad to say) than in finding the truth behind stories.
I’ve turned to Craigslist to find work after walking off of newspapers that otherwise refused my resignation. It’s not made me rich, won me a Pulitzer or even kept me in the journalism game, but it has gotten me a meal on more than one occasion when otherwise I might’ve gone hungry and found myself homeless — which I might add would be a small price to pay to maintain some integrity in public discourse.
I’ve not delved too far into your media services — for what I’ve seen they don’t seem adequate to replace what’s on the market right now, but it sure seems, assburger syndrome aside,
if we put our heads together and engaged some real old-school honest-journalism professor types and cold-shouldered Ivy-League plane-crash-with-a-gleam-in-their-eye TV anchor types, we could come up with something better….
September 9th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I was hoping that you would come back with your adult or erotic section.I noticed that the CENSORED has been taken off..I’m disappointed that CL bent over for idiots that will find something else wrong with CL in the next few weeks or even days..you should reconsider your position on this issue..
September 9th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
“Can we expect Craigslist with limited resources and a total staff of about 30 to take on about 20 state AGs using tax payers money and the state and national media often backed by our politicians.”
- Answer: yes. I expect good deal of legal support would be provided pro bono by organizations interested in supporting free speech and less government intervention into human affairs.
“I would let him or her know that I didn’t appreciate them using my tax money to persecute craigslist for their own political gain and that they would never get my vote. So why don’t we all do that?”
- Answer: It would be more worthwhile to ask politicians how decrying suspected nefarious activity on Craigslist contributed to the welfare of the electorate they took office to help.
Does looking for lurid ads and bashing Craigslist create any jobs? No. Does it help the economy in any way? No.
Does it look like they would rather pursue “dirt” than do anything to help anybody?
Most assuredly, and I would ask them if I could - why are they using Craigslist to pursue their own apparent affinity for “smut”?
Brian G Valentine
Arlington, Virginia
September 10th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I was so angry watching Amber Lyon’s report that was replayed by Anderson Cooper on CNN on Sunday September 5,2010 after Craigslist censored its adult services section. Amber’s reporting seemed geared more to sensationalism and to obtain ratings on a topic regarding sex then toward getting out the facts of this story. She shouted at Mr. Newmark like a hysterical crazy person trying to hype her report. Further frustrating was Anderson Cooper’s lack of any hard questioning to Amber to back up her report with facts. Amber made it sound like the adult services section of Craigslist was like some underground child prostitution trafficing ring when there is no facts supporting this. She says that people advertising services say they are young and sweet and Amber says that is proof that underage people were involved in prostitution on Craigslist. Does Amber expect people posting adult services to describe them selves as old and ugly?
I think it was wrong for these state attorney generals to target and persecute Craigslist and I dont want my tax money to be used so attorney generals who want to cause some buzz because they are up for re-election to go after Craigslist in this way. It is obvious that these attorney generals were trying to get front page headlines to assist them in their re-elections.
I was disappointed that Craigslist succumbed to the pressure from these ridiculous attorney generals. Craigslist has a right to post these adds and has been very cautious in screening the advertisements to ensure that under age people are not posting ads. I hope that Craigslist changes its position and brings back the adult services section.
September 10th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Tyler,
Amber was acting out her fantasy about “what it would be like to be a teen prostitute.” She used Craigslist as the stage for her act, then made a show for Mr Newmark and anybody else with the stomach to watch it about letting her do it in the first place.
There was nothing in Amber’s fantasy diary posted on Craigslist that I would censor anyway, the “dirty” part of it was in Amber’s mind - which she thought everyone should think would be a “dirty” as Amber thought her story (or she) was.
Too bad her management let her carry out her little fantasy in front of an audience! But, “your management” can’t be expected to be “your parents” when you about to make a dreadful mistake
September 11th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
[…] bloggers, including Craigslist’s CEO Jim Buckmaster and Newmark portrayed her interview as an ambush. Frankly, that seems unfair to me. I’m sure he […]
September 11th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Gentlemen,
Welcome to world of witch hunts. The organized cabal of media -> government -> competitors <- repeat loop. Ayn is rolling in her grave.
I would love to see you just up and offshore Craigslist to a more receptive jurisdiction. Move the entire operation to Switzerland or some other country were freedom of speech, mind, and body still exist. Sadly, once the target is painted you either have to submit or feel the boot place on your neck…
One day, people will realize the false dichotomy of Republic and Democrats… They both suck the life force out of freedom.
September 12th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Amber, are you reading this stuff, hon?
Reviews so far seem to suggest that your 15-minute theatre was not just a little bit fleabag.
Now what? Any more plans to play the part of a teen prostitute anywhere else?
Suggest you don’t sandbag anyone again to have the opportunity. If you do, people might start referring to you as “dirtbag”
September 12th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
He doesnt have to move his servers offshore.. He was never in violation of any law. Not one law, not one time EVER…… What law says that anyone HAS to be socially responsible ?? Craigslist is not REQUIRED to help law enforcement. Is not THEIR job to fight crime.
If amber lyon doesn’t think you’re *doing* enough, then I suggest you don’t argue with her. YOU are not the police and YOU don’t HAVE TO do anything. This was fought and won in federal court. YOU are not responsible for the content placed on your website by other people. YOU were NOT required to screen the ads… YOU were NOT required to remove the ads…. These were VOLUNTARY measures craigslist adopted but it “wasn’t enough”.
Now they’re demanding adult ads be taken down in Canada. When does it stop ?
It stops when YOU stop it Jim. GROW A SET
Seemingly “nothing” will ever be “enough” so DO NOTHING.
Instead of this constant, never ending battle to prove them wrong, PROVE THEM RIGHT because you’re not breaking ANY laws, you never were and there is not a g*ddamn thing they can do about it.
Every time you give them what they want, they just keep coming back for more. .. Didn’t we learn this back in high school ??? BULLIES.
They want craigslist GONE. ….. all of it. They are just chipping away piece by piece. Putting strain and blame on you at every single opportunity, and watching you CRACK.
After the adults ads are gone in all the countries, then it’ll be the personals, then you’ll be blamed for people getting robbed, and ripped off by scammers and those sections will have to go because “craigslist is being socially unresponsible” …
The real root of the problem is that craigslist is FREE.
Stop sweating the bullshit. . If they refuse to be satisfied with EVERYTHING you have done for them, then OK. The least you can do, is give them justification for their dissatisfaction.
Or get out of the kitchen… Shut it down… All of it…. Make them happy.
C’mon…do it.
Take the entire website down and in it’s place just put up a list under the word “censored” with the names of every single politician that has opposed or harassed you in ANY WAY… and leave that list up until election day.
Oh Pretty pretty please. They will be your b*tches in a MINUTE. .. OOOOOh videotape those campaign wh*res smooching your ass.
post their names anyway. … there’s an election coming and we want to know. LOL.
BUT DON’T FORGET THE VIDEO !!!
September 13th, 2010 at 12:36 am
attacks on craig because of porno are a ruse.
what they really fear is the open forums of truth,
ugly and repetitive as they may sometimes be.
craig, give them what they fear the most - let CL focus on the issues of the day, every day, with a front page news section we can all post to without getting prior approvals. let the hypocritical politicians eat their press releases.
September 14th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I’m a sex worker activist and have been watching the growing hysteria against CL with concern for some years now. It has reached unbelievable proportions. Please fight this, Jim. Sex workers are speaking as loudly as we can but we are rarely heard. You can be heard.
And now they’re wanting to shut down the Erotic Services section worldwide, regardless of the laws in individual countries, regardless of how those sex workers feel about it (I doubt most even know what these few people in the US are trying to do about their livelihoods). As any sensible person can see, shutting down a website doesn’t stop an exploiter. Nor is a website an exploiter.
Thank you.
September 15th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Victims are being exploited by the anti-trafficking organizations.
http://www.actioncenter.polarisproject.org/
almost every article on the front page is regarding contacting legislators for tougher laws and more funding for victims.
they claim over 100,000 children are trafficked in the us.
they have testified several times before congress.
however, there is only one case on their website where 3 teenagers were trafficked, and apparently they had nothing to actually do with helping the victims.
there is also 1 teenager who did a televised interview…but she doesnt mention how the polaris project helped her.
the rest of their victims were victimized in other countries.
they do show stories from a handful of adult women victimized in the us.
4 teenagers and a handful of adults is not 100,000 children.
but i dont think congress would approve millions of dollars to help 4 teenagers and a handful of adult women.
stop the exploitation of victims by stopping organizations that fabricate them.
September 15th, 2010 at 10:03 am
Legitimate adult service providers are now compelled to jump in with “backpage” and “eBay” slop - wherein exploiters and criminals evidently have the opportunity to do what they like.
Craigslist provided a means to maintain a minimum service provider standard with zero tolerance for criminal and abusive behavior for a nominal fee to maintain the standard.
Past tense. A lot of people are disappointed in these developments, because it has the potential to harm
September 15th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Amber’s story is so one sided. Did she ever cover adult service workers who voluntarily provide adult services and use Craigslist to increase their business? You know, the positive aspects of adult ads.
Craigslist’s adult ads are viewable and out in the open to everyone, even police! Hello! Did she comprehensively interview police and attorney generals on what they are doing to fight child prostitution and sex trafficking on Craigslist? They are the one’s that are supposed to do the policing, not Craigslist. Isn’t that the job of the police and AG’s? When she posted a fake adult post insinuating child prostitution, how come she didn’t blindside some police chief or AG about what they were doing?
Now that Craiglist seems to have taken down the adult section, is Amber going to interview the voluntary sex workers whose livelihood has hampered by the pressure AG’s have put on Craigslist. Now these workers are victims.
Journalists are supposed to look at the whole story, different aspects of the story. This reminds me how the media used to depict Mixed Martial Arts as human cock fighting back a decade ago. They only looked at one side only. Fortunately, MMA is mainstream enough that the “human cock fighting” stories no longer exist. Hopefully, society will evolve and realize that Craigslist is not the enemy. It’s the journalist and AGs that are, oops, I mean the sex traffickers.
September 15th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Dear Amber,
One word: SLEAZE!!!
Where is she she coming off acting like this? If I was Craig, I would have rebutted with questions of fury on my own: ‘Who is this girl? Do you know her real name? Where is she from? Is it really forced or is she doing this as an occupation? What color are her eyes?’.
Amber, come down of your high horse and get your facts straight. She knew nothing of this girl other than the ad. It could have been posted by another dating site for all she knows to bring down CL. As we know, their personals get more hits than the biggest sites combined. Maybe Amber posted the ad for all we know.
Too many questions and not enough answers. Fight a war that’s worth fighting and leave CL alone.
September 16th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Amber Lyon is an idiot, trying trying to promote herself. Shame on her!
September 18th, 2010 at 12:17 am
I am so dissapointed that Craigslist just bent over and took it. I am a 28 year old woman who CHOSE to post in the Adult section of Craigslist. I was not forced by a pimp (Don’t have one by the way) and I believe I am old enough to make my own choice. It is disgusting to me that so many people have to push their “Morals” on others and tell us CONSENTING ADULTS what to do.
I Have an idea! CNN should ambush the Pope about all those priests who were in positions of trust that RAPED, and MOLESTED young boys.
I am a mother of 2 children living in an upscale suburb of Atlanta. Like many MILLIONS OF AMERICANS I lost my job as a secretary of 8 years at a construction company. I soon found Craigslist and was able to make a living rather than become a burden to society by collecting unemployment or taxpayer money on welfare. Yes, I did pay taxes as I actually have an ESCORT License as required in my city. It was my choice to use my body the way I wanted to and I was never degraded in anyway. Most of my clients were normal, traveling, respectful men who were looking to spend time with a woman NOT A CHILD.
Humans will do what Human nature requests. I would hate to see someone vulnerable be taken advantage of because a man was not able to find an adult female to meet up with. I’m so dissapointed in you Craigslist for allowing the Media to dictate your morals and mine. I would be more than willing to sit down with Amber and tell my side of the story in using Craigslist. As of right now I cannot find a regular job such as the one I had for 8 years. No one can, have you seen the unemployment rate? To make matters worse, I am now struggling to make ends meet because the choice was made for me. I cannot use Craigslist to post in the Adult section because its immoral (Sarcasm).
I was never able to post pictures that were too revealing sometimes even my pictures at the beach were rejected. I can speak from experience in trying to post my ad on Craigslist that my attempts to post were rejected many times. I have seen other websites where nude pictures are allowed and girls specifically say they are GFE. I guess business will now boom for Escort Agencies (The legal Pimps) and other websites whom in the past did not come close to being an empire like Craigslist.
Hey Craigslist, Since you don’t care about the effect it has had on your 122 million dollar a year revenue, Can you give me a job at your office in San Francisco? I don’t know where to find a job now. Believe me, I have been looking there aren’t too many companies hiring.
September 18th, 2010 at 5:34 am
Well Amber, you got your big story. Now you can enjoy a long and successful career as a journalist. If I could I would ask a couple of questions of dear Amber.
1. In your follow up you site the “scientific study” done by The Schapiro Group. http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/sites/wfnet.org/files/AFNAP/TheSchapiroGroupGeorgiaDemandStudy.pdf DID YOU EVEN READ IT? This entire study is a joke! If you did read it then you are either DUMB or you don’t care about the truth.
2. Why did you not include a single Sex Workers Rights Advocate in your series of “interviews? If you had you might find out that
-a. traffickers will just go somewhere else and police will have to look for them AGAIN!
-b. Now many sex workers are going to have to take to the dangerous streets that didn’t before but what do you care right honey? They’re just WHORES right?
3. Why would you help destroy a “catalog” for missing and exploited children? In your follow up you interviewed a woman who said she found her missing daughter BECAUSE SOMEONE CAME ACROSS HER ON CRAIGSLIST AND TOLD THE MOTHER!
But hey…you got your big break honey. Good luck!
Anyone who wants to watch a video I did on this issue here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9kupjqywoc
September 18th, 2010 at 7:57 am
EVERYONE IS MISSING THE POINT!!!!
1) LAWSUIT CRAIGSLIST V. EBAY WAS JUST HEARD IN DELAWARE AND SENT BACK TO CALIFORNIA FOR FURTHER LITIGATION.
2) Craigslist is suing Ebay (aka Meg Whitman) for typical corrupt business dealings but more important antitrust type activities.
3) MEG WHITMAN just started her election campaign in California and CANNOT let any publicity of dishonest business leadership at Ebay hit the press.
4) SOLUTION? - Paint Craigslist as a proliferator of prostitution, esp. child prostitution, and dirty seedy “internet company”. This way, the real story of Big Ebay “bullying” community-based Craigslist will be repositioned as Ebay (led by Meg Whitman) is the hero and even offered to help put this “dirty” craigslist bunch on the straight path.
5) REPUBLICANS ARE SMART - DEMOCRATS ARE IDIOTS: Right or wrong, the Republicans (esp. the Tea Baggers) are effectively using the media to turn a wrong into a right. There’s nothing wrong with this. What’s wrong is that many educated Americans, (esp. in Silcon Valley) can’t see through the very visible crap!!!
BTW- Amber might as well work for Fox News as she just pulled off the biggest Republican premptive strike against Meg Whitman.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:03 am
On this website:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=40
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that between jan 2007 and sept 2008, a period of almost 2 years, there were 391 allegations of child sex trafficking.
less than 10% were confirmed.
Please, Amber Lyon, contact the police if you somehow have knowledge of 100,000 children being trafficked every year in the us for the purpose of prostitution.
September 20th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
I am so pissed off about this BULLSHIT I wrote a blog post deconstructing the followup story Amber Lying did no this called “Underage Sex for Sale on the Internet.” I also begin to touch on deconstructing that BULLSHIT “scientific study” they used done by the Schapiro Group. http://tiny.cc/vhofo
September 22nd, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Amber Lyon, is a bias Christian right wing reporter. So, of course she is going to be outraged by adult services. Those are the same type of people that cover up ancient Greek statues or even vintage drawings of Jesus. Anything that is not approved by the Leave It To Beaver sect, they are against.
Craigslist should not have sold out to this modern moral minority. This modern minority sect are tiny in numbers but they are scream loudly to get attention with all of their rage.
Europe and even Canada are way more progressive on these issues. But then again, they also are more progressive on health care too.
It’s 2010, not 1959. I know Amber Lyon, the Palins, and the Republican party would like it to be 1959 again. You know, when there were racial labeled bathrooms, no pro-choice, and just no freedom of choice at all.
Know your rights.
September 30th, 2010 at 1:59 am
Can anyone ask us what we (Adult Workers) think before making assumptions on what we may or may not be going through. Amber Lyonn YOU DON’T SPEAK FOR ME!!…..I as an adult woman (fully capable of sound mind) provide companionship to adults. Just because you created a fake profile on CL to prove your point, I would have liked to have seen you follow through with those meetings and try to prove a point that we all sell sex. YOU ARE VERY STUPID AMBER LYONN!!…..Personally, I have built very long lasting relationships with people. Trust me there are a lot of college girls out there doing more concerning things than many of us. Such as sleeping with strangers while drunk, getting drugged at parties, having sex without condoms etc. I can go on and on and on. Since you feel you have all of a sudden become the voice of reason, why don’t you go protect those girls?!?!……Believe it or not Amber, I NEVER EVER advertised sex for money on craigslist. But, who am I to tell you what goes on? Right?….I mean you are the self appointed advocate for those of us who didn’t even ask you to speak for us. Why don’t you MYOFB Amber? I’m sure your husband, father, brother etc has called one of us for our services. Women like you (uptight) are the ones that drive men to seek us.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
I agree with one poster. Anderson Cooper is the only person on CNN, in my limited experience, who is ever worth listening to. The worst? Lots of competition there, but my vote goes to Wolf Blitzer (sp?), if for no other reason than that he seems to be on so much. Of course, I find broadcast news in general (except for NPR) to be horrendous and largely unwatchable or unlistenable. Go NPR!
October 25th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Not just journalists but so many organizations and rival companies try to put a negative spin on any situation. Look at todays news market, it is all Negative and depressing. Drama sells!! Cops, Teen Mom’s, Nancy Grace…. Geez man, report on something positive people. Try inspiring people instead of reporting on death, destruction, corruption. Yes, it is all over the US but it is all over the world as well. The only reason the US looks so bad is that the media has to report, and sometimes falsly, on it.
Craigslist is a great idea. This is the US right, freedom of speech and expression right? Craigslist has done nothing wrong. If you dont like it then dont visit the site, simple.
Way to fire back Jim!