Large domestic media have, over the past decades, minimized the number of journalists outside major centers, which has opened space for quality local players. The web and social networks have created opportunities for growth for specialists who publish content focused on specific thematic interests.
The media industry is in transition; the domestic sphere is characterized by a large number of editorial offices, which, combined with problematic financing structures, results in relatively poor working conditions. This reality leads to many journalists moving into other industries (we all have that colleague who went into PR, right?) and reduces the influx of new, young professionals.
The complex relationships between some major publishers and those in power, along with a lack of transparency, have become a serious topic in recent decades. The situation in which politically aligned media can more easily obtain funding from public sources leads to the neglect of important topics in the public space and to uniform editorial policies.
We still haven’t made that necessary step toward media self-regulation. It is a brake on the development of our society, as various and numerous truths remain hidden behind self-censorship and a policy of not wanting to offend.
The other day I glanced at the data from the Agency for Electronic Media register and was stunned by the number of publishers in our country. We’re talking about more than 1,000 editorial offices… about 30 TV stations, 165 radio stations, 600 portals, and another 250 various digital on-demand services and similar. So, we are champions of pluralism—every few thousand Croats have their own e-medium.
But the vast majority of those entities listed by the AEM boil down to recycling daily news produced by others, which brings little value to the clicker, reader, or viewer. The question of purpose leads to another – sustainability.
That’s exactly why I’m convinced that in the next decade there will be a major cleanup of the scene, because there will be no motivation or basic market logic for many small editorial offices. For quality information and a high level of pluralism, even a third of the above would be sufficient.
If we ensure a better financing structure, strengthen editorial offices, and raise quality, we will remove the veil from our society’s eyes.
We must look truth in the face and open the topic of media independence, that necessary step in the development of democracy and thus of society as a whole. It’s enough to glance at the media freedom index, which suggests that Croatia is dropping out of the first league, falling to 60th place out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders list.
Some are completely dependent on advertisers, others on the will of those in power, while others have turned to populism (and/or ideologies), searching within it for a sustainable business model.
And that is exactly why we are at the top of the list of countries, alongside Bulgarians and Turks, where the audience increasingly avoids the news, according to new Reuters research.
Platforms and the AI Era
There are also numerous external influences – most notably, the increasingly dominant technological giants.
Big Tech is influential and disruptive; their tools and services are superior and extremely efficient. The possibilities they have placed at our disposal open up contact with audiences such as we’ve never had before. Billions of dollars invested in development bring results, bonuses for brokers, and considerable dividends to owners. The challenge is that they have a short lifespan, as users migrate from one platform to another as unfaithfully as ladies of the night.
Reuters’ recent research on the state of media highlights a worrying trend from the U.S., showing that we have entered an era of dominance of social and video platforms even in the field of information. For the first time, it has been recorded that more Americans get their information from social networks than from news portals and TV stations. Which, coincidentally, correlates perfectly with the chaos of the Trump administration.
The good news for the media is that the role of platforms will never fully overlap with that of the media. We produce, they distribute. We have a responsibility to society – they have it to shareholders.
And it’s worth remembering that even the rich cry.
Platforms are becoming more exposed, complex, and regulated with each passing day. I remember when a lot could be done with just a few clicks, while today we’re lucky if, after countless complications in bizarre situations, a real person answers us at the helpdesk. Rapid development has made them comparable to our bureaucracy.
Thematic (niche) media allow for deeper analysis and a specialized approach – such as in agriculture, science, or culture. They ensure stronger audience loyalty and engagement and allow content to be tailored to specific interests, thereby raising the quality of public debate and information.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a funky term but a reality. For newsrooms, it brings both good and bad news- good in increasing competitiveness, and bad because it opens the door wide to anomalies. A bad journalist or editor will soon be replaced by technology, but not a good one. A great one – never. The same applies to media outlets. We are heading into a cathartic transformation of the media industry, even though the previous one is not yet complete. AI is growing so rapidly in output quality that soon we will not know what is real and what is not.
It’s not hard for me to imagine that soon we’ll reach the topic of “truth certification,” which brings us back to defending the thesis from the title.
Platforms will run even faster for attention and reactions, but not for truth.
And it is precisely the truth that is important for the common man, for the local community, for society as a whole. AI cannot replace the ingenuity and experience of a quality journalist, nor an editor who cares about their reader and the society in which they operate.
Local media convey information important to specific communities, allowing citizens insight into local problems, development, politics, and achievements that are often neglected in national media.
AI cannot replace the wit of Šprajc, the sharp humor of Tomić’s satire, or the subtle audacity of Dežulović – just as it cannot understand the specific narrative of the Split piazza, the Rijeka market, the Osijek fair, or Zagreb’s Dolac. AI cannot distinguish whining from true misery.
And that gives me hope that local and thematic media will have an important role in shaping our future.
As long as AI algorithms block a social post showing Dalmatian prosciutto being sliced (first-hand experience) because it’s “disturbing,” I will sleep peacefully.
