Craigslist, Google, and other Web sites are making life difficult for those who sell traditional classified ads, for sure, but there's little reason to believe old-line print classifieds are a thing
of the past. Not yet, anyway. Nicholas Carlson, a reporter for InternetNews.com, observes that while newspapers are being unfairly devalued by the marketplace, there needs to be a greater
appreciation of papers' Web sites. "The top 20 newspapers boast five times more unique viewers than Craigslist, despite trailing the site in combined Web page views, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
And that number grew by 21 percent from December 2004 to December 2005," writes Carlson. "That kind of growth is due to traditional media's critical assets: long-term customer relationships, brand
equity, real readership, real editorial," says Ari Jacoby, president of Adstar, an advertising company. "So while there's been a new-media explosion, newspapers have been every bit a part of it. And
it's been because of their traditional strengths."
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