"Bet we could come up with a better platform"
What you are looking for pretty much already exists on the internet, but there's not just "a" model, but hundreds of them, and as much bad stuff as good stuff.
Remember, the "idyllic, pre-TV America" included William Randolph Hearst and others. Such people are still around, but anybody can play Hearst's game now, and what really matters most is the brain that's pulling in all the information at the other end.
People need to be trained to think, not just absorb.