Bloggers wasted no time slamming Peter Scheer's suggestion that newspapers embargo news from their own Web sites to drive print readership.
Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, wrote in an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle Monday, "Newspapers and wire services need to figure out a way, without running afoul of antitrust laws, to agree to embargo their news content from the free Internet for a brief period — say, 24 hours — after it is made available to paying customers."
The blogosphere responded quickly, calling Scheer's idea "stupid" (among other less polite things). Bloggers also pointed out that of all people, bloggers are most unlikely to abide by any voluntary online news embargo and delaying news online would only hurt newspapers' bottom line in the long run. (See some journalists' responses on BuzzMachine and Lost Remote.)