• San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, March 26, 2007 10:34 AM

A recent column by the newspapers,which urged newspaper companies to start charging for content in order to stave off declining revenues, was met with a barrage of criticism from readers. "Content is no longer worth paying for," said one. "Going forward, it will not be possible to charge for [it]..." Added another: "Why would I ever pay to read a column like yours when I could just as easily read someone's blog?"

In a follow-up editorial, the columnist, Joe Lazarus, understandably hurt when he read such remarks, said his readers exuded "a sense of entitlement" in "benefiting from other people's work," and that they didn't understand the importance of reporting-based journalism.

Unfortunately for him and the newspaper business, consumers are going to have it their way whether the media likes it or not. There's little use in getting mad at your readers (although the exchange is resulting in more page views for the Chronicle). Lazarus' argument that bloggers don't research doesn't hold water because readers can do as much research on a topic as they want, formulating their own opinions. And for the most part, they have as much access to research as journalists.

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