You regularly see people in the newspaper business, as well as some professional media critics, complaining about the terrible consequences of falling advertising revenues in the mainstream media.

There seems to be a worry that as the Internet makes the news business more competitive, traditional media organizations won't be able to afford to do "real" reporting any more.

It's not a crazy argument, but more often, the opposite seems to be true. Take the recently-completed Democratic Party convention.

Ezra...