American Morning
Fired over Myspace postings?
What do you think? Should the internet be a safe place for employees to vent about work?
Craigslist controls
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/04/22/art_craigslist_arraignment.jpg caption= "Medical student Philip Markoff, 22, appears in court Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts."]
It’s been a bad couple of months for Craigslist. In March, New York radio reporter George Weber was killed by a man he allegedly met on Craigslist. And now, Boston police are attempting to connect the dots between alleged killer Phillip Markoff and what they believe may be ‘multiple’ victims he found on Craigslist.
The website’s CEO, Jim Buckmaster, seems genuinely concerned. “We feel terribly and feel sad that anyone would lose their life”, he told me in an exclusive interview, saying he was “horrified that use of Craigslist would be connected with a violent crime of this nature.” Watch the interview
He also defended the website from the notion that it was a conduit for criminal activity, saying “there are 50 million Americans using Craigslist each month. When you have that kind of human activity, there’s going to be things going wrong despite everyone’s best efforts to protect people.”
Buckmaster is eager to counter any negative perceptions about Craigslist. It is a valuable commodity – one of the internet’s more successful ventures – and therefore a ripe target for critics.
If alleged killer Phillip Madoff had stalked his victims through the “personal ads” section of the Boston Globe, would there be so much publicity?
Mr. President, you've got mail
President Obama - open for questions.
He'll be fielding them, not from the press, but from you... in an online, town hall meeting beginning at 11:30 am eastern time today. And, the president is making a direct video pitch to the public for those questions. 75-thousand questions have already been submitted.
Nicholas Thompson, "Wired" Magazine Senior Editor, joined us live.
Internet Survival
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/16/craigslist.art.jpg caption="Craigslist has become a meeting place for those hurt by the economic downturn."]
From Traci Tamura, CNN Senior Producer
For the past couple of years, I have been producing economy stories for CNN. We profiled a family facing foreclosure back in December of 2006. I remember sitting in the living room where we interviewed a couple who cried as they talked about the prospect of losing their home. I really had no idea that over 2 years later I'd still be covering these same types of stories.
The most recent economy story I produced was for American Morning – "Craiglist S0S". I found the idea for this story as I was surfing the internet on craigslist doing research on another story. I happened to be looking for people who are in such a tight financial bind they have resorted to renting out their living rooms to make ends meet. I found Alicia. She is a 29-year-old who has been unemployed for several months and continues to job search daily. She is currently behind a few months rent on her 1 bedroom apartment and is now desperately trying to rent out her living room space. For the first time in her life, Alicia has had to turn to public assistance and is living off unemployment and food stamps but that doesn't even cover her living expenses.
Kennedy Space Center Behind the Scenes
CNN's John Zarrella reports
An exclusive look at what it takes to get a space shuttle ready for flight.
Before Space Shuttle Discovery heads into space, everything down to the thermal tiles will be inspected. We have a behind the scenes look at Kennedy Space Center as Discovery is processed, post-landing, being prepared for its next flight.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
On Twitter
