On The Media is produced by:
Under mounting pressure from state attorneys general to curb illegal activities facilitated on their site, Craigslist announced this week that it would take down its “erotic services” section. It will be replaced by “adult services” where each ad will be reviewed by a Craigslist employee. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster both say the change is more than just a marketing ploy.
Your May 17th show gave the CEO of Craigslist a free pass when he drew an analogy between his website and the automobile industry; specifically, when he suggested that the automobile industry is not under the same scrutiny as his website, you failed to point out that the automobile manufacturers might disagree regarding the amount of legal intervention involved in the use of their product. Examples that you might have raised include the government’s licensing of drivers based on age, criminal history, and physical condition, as well as goverment-run safety tests, mandated recalls, and stipulations regarding the number of miles per gallon an automobile fleet must maintain. Rather than mentioning any of this, you gave Mr. Buckmaster a non-critical forum for venting his feelings of persecution. Bias is inevitable on even your excellent progam, but normally ON THE MEDIA makes both sides of an argument defend its reasoning.
This segment unfortunately displayed the kind of "anonymous encounter" attitude about prostitution that the covert users of "erotic services" Craigslist take-- one that hints at looking away from the problem of illegal sex interest because it might border on involving the First Amendment.
The attorney general advocated for removing a service within Craigslist that has led to high profile murders, kidnappings and illegal activity involving children. The policing going is meant to stop was is illegal and that is a good thing as long as it does not lead to a persecution of what could be interpreted solely as immoral.
If users are offering something illegal shouldn't advertising on Craigslist make them easier to catch? Maybe AGs should use Craigslist to enforce the law instead of complain that it's helping people break it.
Please keep your comments relevant to this entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments on On the Media are moderated. On the Media reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the onthemedia.org Comment Guidelines before posting.
Back to Episode
