Maybe McLuhan was wrong
“The classified ads (and stock-market quotations) are the bedrock of the press. Should an alternative source of easy access to such diverse daily information be found, the press will fold.” Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, 1964
So far, we’ve made it 15 years since EBay and Monster and Craigslist and other sources snatched classified ads from the press, and yet there are still papers. They aren’t as profitable, but perhaps content does matter, some.