When we talked to Phil Bronstein, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, a few weeks back, he told us that "the Chronicle will continue to be packed with talented journalists who will keep providing what (SFist) Rita called 'an essential public service.'"

Recently, a media critic called into question the format in which the hard work of those journalists will be read.

Jon Fine, the media columnist for BusinessWeek magazine, is singling the Chron out as the major daily most likely to shutter the print side of its operation.

While we'd open our virtual arms to any San Francisco media venture seeking to join SFist as a Web-only proposition, we think The Chron doing so would certainly make a statement -- but a positive or negative one? Would going all-electronic be seen as a bold move, an attempt to stay ahead of the industry? Or would it be akin to the paper tucking a tail between its legs and running away?

According to Fine, it would require "big thinking--and spending enough to create networks of local sites and a giant local portal. And it will take a brave man or woman to pull the plug on the presses."

Was the approx. 5.5 years of losing $1 million per week motivation enough to pull the trigger on such a thing within Fine's theorized 18-24 month timeframe? We don't believe so. While Fine does raise a good point that fixed costs of printing, distribution, etc., will just keep climbing, we think this is clearly a case of a good writer trying to sex up his piece a just little bit. We're very skeptical of the sfgate becoming worth more than the print product in such a short timespan.

Also there are moral issues to consider (remember the "public service" angle, as Rita called it?). We know it's a business, but the news should not be limited to those of us with computers and high-speed Web access at home, let alone smartphones, iPhones, and other "e-readers."

Hard to prognosticate. But we'll say this: from what we gleaned from our readers a while back, the format of the news -- whether print or on-screen -- seems to have little to do with why or why not we're giving the Chron our money. Rather, it's all about content.