[makomk]

We'd have exactly the same problem even if there was no government to co-opt at all, though. In particular the Libertarian market-based approach has exactly the same problem. If businesses can convince newspapers to smear politicians who're inconvenient to them, there's nothing stopping them doing the same to researchers who've discovered their drug is killing people, or doctors who've noticed their factory workers are being slowly poisoned, or anyone else who tries to give consumers the information required to make sound decisions.