Lazarus’ disputed column suggested that newspapers could successfully charge for online content if they could come together in doing so. To do this, newspapers would have to lobby Congress for exemption antitrust laws. Lazarus sees newspapers at the edge of a "life-or-death struggle" and thinks the exemption could halp  them into the digital age.

He sticks by his story in the new column, adding Fred Schiff, associate professor of communication at the University of Houston's idea of the newspaper website as a sort of virtual marketplace where free news will be a lure surrounded by ads and offers.

Many bloggers and citizen journalists responded with the idea that online content is not worth paying for and that charging for online content will turn readers off.

In his new column, Lazarus attacks both the responses and the very concept of blogs. Lazarus sees the blogosphere as “comprised by and large of people whose work consists of commenting on the work of others.” For his initial column, Lazarus says he interviewed a half-dozen journalists and industry experts. No blogger or citizen journalist who responded offered any original reporting.

Source: San Francisco Gate through I Want Media