> Rich people buy out newspapers to signal-boost their own preferred messages to the public.
Right, but micro level difference matters here. If a middle-class person can help an important story reach an audience, that's helpful for democracy. When a billionaire buys a newspaper, it isn't.
This is also why I think suggesting it work like a kickstarter where multiple people can pool money to unlock an article would be helpful. It naturally collects the will of many people in a democratic way.
This is basically political fundraising, where rich people signal-boost their preferred candidate and help them attract lots of donors from the public.
I think the fundamental piece you're missing is the Pareto principle. In any popularity contest, the most attention accrues to the most popular. This naturally leads to a power law distribution in popularity.
I'm actually wondering if Citizens United will prove to be a stabilizing force.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/18/politics/texas-senate-primary... shows that, in this year's Texas race, the centrists are getting more funding than the culture warriors even though the culture warriors are more popular.
Granted, that's only a single data point.
It sounds quite aligned with how assurance contracts[1] work.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_contract