How Corrupt is the Establishment?

And here I mean, how corrupt is the Establishment (the currently-prevailing corporate-media-political complex), intellectually? If you were to look at the circus that passes for "political news" these days, how would you evaluate it by intellectual standards? If the very cultural backdrop of political news coverage these days is devoid of serious intellectual influence, then just how futile is it to expect serious positive political reforms? I'll offer as Exhibit A: The complete absence, in all major media outlets in the United States, of one of the most thought-provoking intellectual figures of our age. It's pathetic, and damning. We as a people cannot expect much of anything better in our mainstream institutions if things don't change big-time - intellectually. At least the internet by its nature will give non-Establishment figures a greater audience-share than before. So there's at least some hope there.