Arianna Huffington came to this internet with little more than a URL, a dream and a whole lot of connections. Now, according to Nielsen online, the Huffington Post has surpassed the Drudge Report in traffic. What perfect timing for a New Yorker essay on the state of online journalism and how she's changing the rules.

Almost by accident, however, the owners of the Huffington Post had discovered a formula that capitalized on the problems confronting newspapers in the Internet era, and they are convinced that they are ready to reinvent the American newspaper. "Early on, we saw that the key to this enterprise was not aping Drudge," Lerer recalls. "It was taking advantage of our community. And the key was to think of what we were doing through the community's eyes."



This story was written by Eric Alterman, the Nation columnist and author of the 2003 book What Liberal Media? Your answer is finally here, Eric!

Of course, this wildly popular liberal media is also home to essays on Candy Spelling's passive aggressive attacks on her daughter's career and Erica Jong rambling about electing a beaver.. So between Drudge's weather obsession and the Huffington Post's "celebrity" "bloggers" your news agenda is still being driven by crazy people who probably own hundreds of cats.