Democracy is dying because the flow of information and the fourth branch of government are dying. The story of the end of media did not begin with the arrival of artificial intelligence or its boom in 2022, but with the emergence of social media. Let me explain why democracy may be at risk and what is happening right now to the media landscape that I have been a part of for the past twenty years. The story is downright terrifying.
With the advent of social media – I'm talking about modern platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, x.com and, ultimately, Facebook – there has been the greatest media revolution since the invention of the printing pressSuddenly, anyone who had an idea could became a medium and communicated his ideas to thousands of Internet users. Video, photographic and written content have gained a new, equal channel for broadcasting information. That is also why I have always maintained that that influencers are, by all accounts, commercial media, which is ultimately dictated by media legislation. They broadcast regularly, systematically create editorial content, and generate revenue. Their reach is usually several times greater than that of traditional media.
With this step, the media began to lose ground. It happened that a twenty-year-old girl on these platforms could have the same reach as the largest national media outlet; often this reach was even two or three times greater than the reach of the largest traditional media outlet. Because people on social platforms prefer to communicate with people rather than with media brands, the latter had a handicap from the beginning – baseline personality defect.
The death of the internet and the dictatorship of algorithms – why the media is dying
Declining importance of media and shifting user attention to other channels has brought by 2022 significant reduction in the importance of classical, traditional media. In America today, it is extremely difficult to find a printed newspaper, because this offer is almost gone. If we look at America, we can project our Slovenian reality and find that in five years there will probably be no more printed media in Slovenia either. But this is not the only death. Today we are also witnessing the death of the Internet – the modern branch of this industry.
In another industrial technological attack on traditional media, there was a leap in artificial intelligence. Traditional online media outlets that rely on search traffic have reportedly lost at least a third of their traffic in the past year. The reason is the introduction of artificial intelligence results directly below the search bar, which is especially noticeable in certain industries, such as lifestyle, where recipes or manicure instructions are prepared by artificial intelligence. At the same time Google covers this loss by redirecting to larger (read: largest partner) media so-called Discover traffic. It's about suggestions news in the Chrome mobile browser, which on a global average also means up to 68 % of all acquired traffic.
End of 2025 This meant that when the algorithms changed, Google began to preserve the largest media outlets and send them more traffic, while small and marginal media outlets no longer had space on this channel. In short: due to the decline in search queries due to artificial intelligence, Google tightened the conditions for the distribution of Discover news in the Chrome browser. This is compensating for the decline in traffic at the largest media outlets, which are now even more dependent on Google's traffic or news suggestions in the Discover service. This means the end of small publishing on the Internet, no matter how technologically and professionally mature it may be.
In this context, in countries such as Slovenia, where the media is not as strong compared to the global market, the inevitable is already starting to happen – we will see a steep decline in business models that may have been partly based on revenue from Google. In Slovenia, in the last three years, there has also been a significant decline in the so-called direct leasing of advertising space in the form of classic banners, as this is no longer acceptable for advertisers, as it is an unreasonable use or "burning" of advertising money. It is therefore a completely inappropriate use of funds, since modern advertising targeting systems represent the most rational and cheap use of money in the history of marketing. Direct leasing is, in a way, just a strengthening of the brand (branding), which is of completely secondary importance in the advertising pie today.
A tsunami of translated content and local resistance
To all media outlets that are not based exclusively on local content, A tsunami of translated content is on the horizonToday we can We translate an article into 20 different languages for less than one euro. And we do this in such a way that a “natural speaker” will not immediately recognize this content as translated. For local specialized media in the fields of technology, lifestyle and automotive, this means that a multitude of content will invade the local media space, competing with local ones – of course with a better, more authentic story, a larger editorial staff and also in video format. Local specialized media will thus disappear from the horizon in less than three years. This is actually already happening in Slovenia, as specialized media are unable to survive in the media web. Also due to the outflow of advertisers to Croatia and in decision-making centers such as Warsaw, Tallinn and Vienna.
This will be followed by an invasion. international video content, also translated into YouTube, where the largest producers are already broadcasting in more than 20 language versionsThis means that you can, for example, MrBeast you listen in Italian with the help of the lip sync function – just select the desired language in the settings. So the Tower of Babel has been demolished. Practically every major influencer will also be translated into Slovenian, which will mean a flood of globalized-localized content.
Why is the media dying?! What will really survive? Really good content and authenticity. Exceptional local focus, but of course on channels that are cross-channel in terms of content. Certainly not content on a single channel, for example on television or in some other classic format, which is dying out, since everything is available on demand today. Innovation will be needed, as well as strong support from the local community for local content. I am thinking primarily of advertisers, companies and entrepreneurs, who should be aware that they are building local communication platforms with content creators. Without their support, we are entering an era of monopoly, where the point of purchase of "promotion" will be only two or three American corporations.
Local is important. Even in the media. So if you have a little sense, buy local too... not just vegetables, but support good content. This is how you build a true democracy. This is how entrepreneurs build independent media – the media, which can once again be the fourth branch of government, controlling politics and ensuring social balance. Without this support, we have what we have today: a media that is entirely dependent on capital.
