Here's another letter the RJ didn't find appropriate to run over the holidays. It was sent to the editor the week before Christmas by a former newspaper editor, Rob Schlegel, who obviously struck a nerve. Here's his letter.

Dear Editor,
From a newspaper which favors the free market system, I find your regular stories and protests about Craigslist to be amusing, not to mention, self-serving. I won’t even get into free speech issues or the fact that the “world’s oldest profession” will never be eradicated.

Not too many years ago, the Review-Journal ran adult ads similar to Craigslist, albeit without photos and not as blatant. That was also during a time when the R-J pretty much had a monopoly on classifieds. The standard newspaper page was 17 inches wide, classified ads were charged by the line and each page had seven columns. Newsprint was $700 per tonne (tonne is a metric ton, or about 2200 lbs.).

Today, the R-J prints on an 11 inch wide page, six columns across, charges a higher line rate and newsprint is $500 per tonne in 2009 dollars, roughly comparable to about $300 per tonne in 1980 dollars.

Craigslist is international and reaches nearly every corner of the earth. Were one to compare the number of robberies, assaults or murders committed through Craigslist – and consider readership along with world-wide coverage -- to those committed through the local dailies, perhaps a nanny-stater, unfamiliar with the Bill of Rights, might argue daily newspapers, or at least their classified sections, should be shut down.

Instead, the R-J runs self-serving editorials, disguised as news stories, which only seeks to protect what was once a near monopoly.

As an avid print reader, I’m saddened to see what the Internet has done to news publications but one must adapt to technology. Alternatively, don’t feel too badly for the R-J, since its parent corporation still rakes in revenue from at least 6-10 pages of local escort and massage businesses through one of its weekly publications. As for quoting Professor Alexis Kennedy in the latest Craigslist “news article”, I would be intrigued to hear her thoughts on the circulation/readership differences between Craigslist and the Review-Journal classifieds, especially with a twist considering readership demographics.

Give it a rest, R-J, because you’ll never get the Craigslist reader back to the daily, even if you start offering adult service ads and free advertising.

Rob Schlegel

Las Vegas