SFGate.com columnist David Lazarus says newspapers should start charging for access to their Web sites. And if someone listens to him, then I'm going to get very rich.

Let me just promise right now. If any local newspaper decides to start charging readers for access to all the news on their Web site, I'm going to quit my job and start an online-only competitor that will eventually bankrupt your newspaper. That's how confident I am that the market won't accept a paid subscription newspaper online. Here's a few ways I'll do it:

• Ideally, the sucker of a newspaper will be located in a mid-sized market where Craigslist hasn't already taken hold. Because I'll use free classifieds as a way to build market share of eyeballs while also eating away at your bottomline.


• Then, I'll hire the reporters and sales reps you lay off, infusing my site with an immediate influx of people who know the area.


• To generate free marketing, I'll partner with the local television and radio stations to share headlines.


• Eventually I'll start a printed tabloid that is built around planning your weekend and things to do. And I'll mail it to everyone in the coverage area for free. Advertisers will flock to it because of low costs and high penetration.


• I'll list yellow pages entries, MLS housing inventories, and car dealership inventories all for free. Never charging to be listed. And when the audience flocks to such a useful site, the advertisers will buy banners around the content. I might even start up some of those printed weekly shoppers around the content. You'll be out of the market on some of your biggest revenue generators. And, soon, you'll close down altogether.