Internet Search Corrupt?

Hal Plotkin argues that the Internet search process has been corrupted by paid listings. He takes particular umbrage at Yahoo's fee for expedited review of site submissions.

It's a move worth noting, because respectable media outlets traditionally get their money from advertisers and/or subscribers rather than from their subjects.

I disagree. The American Economic Review is a respectable media outlet, but you have to pay a fee to submit an article there, to defray the cost of having the article refereed.

Discussion Question. If you discovered that a search engine which was giving you useful results in fact was presenting you with paid links, would you switch to a different search engine?