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The Wall Street Journal ran a profile this weekend of everyone's favorite classifieds site, Craigslist, focusing on CEO Jim Buckmaster (pictured).

Focusing a bit too hard on CEO Jim Buckmaster. Focusing like a hypnosis patient gazing into Jim's swinging wristwatch.

Why doesn't Craigslist run banner ads? Ah, because the users didn't ask for them. Why not pull more profit? Money's not important. When Jim explains it, it's all...so...convincing...

Maybe it's something in the lunch Jim and wife-and-publicist Susan Best offer WSJ writer Brian Carney that makes him so beholden to Jim's words:

"Craigslist free classifieds [...] certainly pose challenges to the newspaper industry as far as being able to raise their profitability over time." Many in newspaper publishing would consider that an understatement. But Mr. Buckmaster is sanguine: "The demise of the newspaper has been overstated." Phew. I expel a nervous chuckle of relief.

So much for hard-hitting reporting — "Oh, your enemies' fears are unfounded? Whew, glad to hear it!" Jim, will you please teach us your Jedi mind trick?

Zen and the Art of Classified Advertising [WSJ]