“[The] image of the Internet as parasite has some foundation. Without the vital news-gathering performed by established institutions, many Web sites would sputter and die.

“In their sweep and scorn, however, [statements like 'the parasite is killing the host'] seem as outdated as they are defensive. Over the past few months alone, a remarkable amount of original, exciting, and creative (if also chaotic and maddening) material has appeared on the Internet.

The practice of journalism, far from being leeched by the Web, is being reinvented there, with a variety of fascinating experiments in the gathering, presentation, and delivery of news. And unless the editors and executives at our top papers begin to take note, they will hasten their own demise.”

Michael Massing, from near the beginning of his essay “The News About the Internet,” in the current New York Review of Books. And then after making this statement, he goes on to make a good case to prove it.