Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark Is Putting His Money Where His Mouth Is
*By Carlo Versano*
Craig Newmark, the founder of the ubiquitous listing site Craigslist, has a new role as patron of investigative journalism and has donated $40 million of his personal fortune to the cause. Now, he's making a plea to news outlets.
"Make me give more," he said Friday in an interview on Cheddar.
Newmark's latest [donation](https://www.motherjones.com/media/2018/08/craigslist-founder-craig-newmark-makes-1-million-gift-to-mother-jones/) of $1 million to the magazine Mother Jones came from the founder's desire to "stand up and do what I can to help protect the country," he said.
The spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories and a pressing need for better cybersecurity led Newmark to embark on a philanthropic tour, giving money to schools (CUNY's School of Journalism, Harvard's Kennedy School), publications (Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones) and platforms (Firefox, DonorsChoose.org) that he said work to promote responsible journalism, fact-checking, and STEM education.
"We're in a long-term war against some really, really bad people," he said.
Newmark said the U.S. is under attack from enemies both foreign and domestic that are using "hybrid warfare" to sow division in the population.
Safeguarding Americans against these forces should be the job of the government, he said.
"Where the government isn't going to do the job, other people can."
Ironically, Craigslist, which Newmark founded in 1995, is widely thought to be among the reasons the news industry is facing such dire financial straits. The free listing site lifted the concept of a newspaper classified and made it seem anachronistic in the digital age. The news media, for its part, was wholly unprepared for the shift.
But his philanthropic efforts have nothing to do with that, Newmark said.
"This is a matter of defending the country."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/craigslist-founder-on-protecting-the-press-this-is-my-war).
The Tony Awards on Sunday lured 4.85 million viewers to CBS, its largest broadcast audience in six years. CBS says Monday that Nielsen data shows the telecast — hosted by “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo — scored a 38% increase over last year’s 3.53 million viewers. That’s the largest audience for the Tonys since 2019, when the telecast that year nabbed 5.4 million viewers and “Hadestown” was crowned best new musical. The latest version also had to compete with the second game of the NBA Finals, between the Thunder and Pacers,
After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech’s pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during a developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology.
Six weeks before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel last December, Luigi Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and expressed that killing the executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming."
Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson once clashed on the court in the 2001 NBA Finals, but now the basketball legends are joining forces to revive the Reebok brand they helped make iconic.
Midea is voluntarily recalling about 1.7 million of its popular U and U+ Smart air conditioners because pooled water in the units may not drain fast enough, leading to mold growth.
