Self-publishing on the Internet, of so-called user-generated content, is less a threat to professionally created programming than some critics argue, Dick Parsons, CEO at Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media company, said at Reuters Media Summit in New York.

Parsons sees the ultra-egalitarian publishing trend as taking place largely beneath the radar of professional media.

“I really don’t think Hollywood is looking to the public for content. I think the public is looking to the public for content,” Parsons said. He compares the trend to the sharing of wedding pictures and photo albums in the pre-digital age.

“The question is will that really cannibalize professionally edited content?” he said.

Self-publishing is complementary to the Hollywood films, major artist recordings and publishing that Time Warner is known for, Parsons argues. “I think they live in adjacent worlds,” he said.

CNN.com now looks to its viewers to upload pictures and video of breaking news. People magazine has handed out thousands of video cameras to college students to capture the social scene at campus parties, he said.

“The larger companies are beginning to find their sealegs,” Parsons said of how bigger media companies are beginning to take a far more aggressive role in online media distribution, rather letting new entrants define the agenda.

“I think brands still count on the Internet,” he said.