Traditional mass media are currently fighting for survival. Among them, print media around the world are gradually dying. From 2005 to 2024, nearly 3,000 newspapers closed in the United States alone. An average of two and a half newspapers closed each week in 2023, compared to two per week in 2022.

During that period, more than 40,000 newspaper employees lost their jobs. Local news organizations are more affected in this way. But even major publishing houses have closed or been severely affected. Two hundred and four counties in America now have no local newspapers. And, by the end of this year, it is estimated that one-third of newspapers there will be closed.

All over the world, radio stations have ceased to be the original source of news. Television audience has also decreased drastically. A recent study by the world-renowned news organization Reuters Institute found that 'social media' has overtaken television as a news source for young people. Even established and reputable news organizations are increasingly relying on social media platforms to drive internet traffic (number of people searching for and reading their news). This second wave of disruption to traditional news sources is forcing news organizations to make new transitions. Even a prestigious publication like The Economist needs to deploy a large social media team to optimize its social media and online news posts and maximize traffic.

Columnist Ryan Zickroff of the publishing house 'Compact' said in an article (March 2024) titled The Death of Journalism Threatens Democracy, "Many crises are simultaneously surrounding the media. An increasing number of people are cutting news from their information dose lists. Business models dependent on advertising revenue continue to wither. News outlets and websites are shutting down. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) risks putting humanized news gathering under further pressure. Now we all understand that the universe will not end soon, but the mass media will. was considered From the era of print media, radio broadcasting, radio from television and television from multi media and online news portals became sources of news, it was considered a natural development. All of them had some common characteristics in common. One, those broadcasts and publications (including online portals) had institutional legal personality and institutional accountability. Two, the credibility and accountability of news to editors and publishers was under the regulatory eye of organizations such as the Press Council. Three, news and information reached a general readership or audience with a distinctive identity of prioritization, professional editing and presentation. Four, the 'space' for public debate on the fairness of the reported news and appropriate response was widely available. There was a legal system where the aggrieved party sought justice. And five, there was a debate about whether or not the interests of advertisers conflicted with news.

s are now reported through social media. But there is no such professional and ethical restraint or accountability on the information that is common in all networks like Facebook, YouTube etc. in the form of personal posts. The 'space' of authentic information has been almost entirely occupied by unauthentic, false or sensational content spread by individuals and groups whose identity is not certain and which cannot be easily detected and disciplined by any administrative mechanism. 

In the last three decades of digital publishing, the world did not consider this dimension of journalism. Prints went online in a frenzy that the mass media organization was transforming itself with the times. Online introduced 'video content'.

began to post their important news on social media to appear first in Google search, increase traffic and increase ad revenue accordingly. Some media have adopted a strategy of paying more to the writer whose news or article gets the best traffic. However, this journey did not last long. 

The news, information, and ideas spread by television and radio, which are generally considered to have 100 percent coverage, have been replaced by "fake news" on social media, trolls and "deep fake" at the same time. Even responsive digital multimedia could not withstand this sudden onslaught. This 'attack' was directly on the advertising revenue of all these types of media. The influence of the open market was increasingly dominating government decisions. At the same time, news organizations' greed for advertising revenue dried up before intellectual debate on the impact of news impartiality and its ethical limits could be resolved. Instead of measuring the amount of publicity given by the mass media by counting the readers or listeners of the news posted on social media, the main advertiser was attracted towards advertising directly through the main social media platform itself. For this reason, the advertising income of the once influential media houses is rapidly increasing, while Google's annual advertising income is about to reach 220 billion US dollars and Facebook's is about to reach 40 billion US dollars. YouTube, X, Instagram, Viber and ≈WhatsApp's advertising income is increasing gradually. 

is the saddest part, on the one hand these traditional mass media are likely to be completely despised by the next generation and on the other hand, the misinformed generation will take personal (about health, education, clothing etc.) and public (voting, social interaction and fellowship) based on such information. It is seen that the negative impact of the decision is falling and increasing in the community, nation and global civil life.

The impact on democracy

The founders of the US Constitution took seriously the role of the media as an informer and educator. Freedom of the press was not only mentioned in the 'Bill of Rights' but provisions were also made for newspapers to be subsidized by the federal government in the new republic. The importance of the role of the mass media in strengthening democracy, the media of many countries have received such grants in various forms. Even in Nepal, the government's practice of giving public welfare advertisements is a form of that subsidy.

It has been proven from many angles that pluralistic democracy based on adult suffrage is the best system of government developed by human civilization. Democracy with civil liberties, freedom of speech and freedom of the press is often pointed out as a result of undemocratic practices under the guise of democracy rather than the weaknesses of the false system. Sometimes the question 'left wing or democrat?' But this in itself is an unfair comparison. Left-wing, right-wing or centrist, all are included in the big umbrella of pluralist democracy when public opinion is taken on the basis of ideological differences. Therefore, being a democrat does not allow one to be left-wing or right-wing, but being left-wing or right-wing does not mean one is not a democrat.

Mass media and democracy complement each other. The cycle of public opinion being formed on the basis of which the media world exposes the deviations and distortions seen in democracy and the state is controlled by that changing public opinion is completely broken as soon as the mass media has no role and status. What the recent examples have shown is that in proportion as the news communicated by the professional mass media is being replaced by biased, one-sided opinions and unconfirmed or incomplete information of the social media, at a faster rate than that, the dictatorial & nbsp; demagogues of undemocratic thinking come to power from extreme left or extreme right-wing politics.

The digital tyranny (digital Mobotresy) that repeats false things continuously and makes it 'viral' through social media is becoming the basis for winning elections. Donald Trump's re-election to the US presidency is the most obvious example of that. This is also the basic principle of the rise of Ravi Lamichhane and the National Independent Party in Nepal. Anti-democracies all over the world have begun to adopt the strategy of creating an atmosphere of election in their favor by creating a situation with zero possibility of critical examination by first creating a strong hatred and exclusionary commentary on the mass media and then using social media to create an election atmosphere in their favor.

There are many examples in the history of the world where physical tyranny has failed democracy. The possibility of identifying those crowd factors and instigators over time is almost impossible in a digital or virtual crowd. On top of that, when Elon Musk, the owner of a strong social media like 'X' (former Twitter), entered the field, the mob system became aggressive with more energy. After making some 'content' and posting it on social media, this new avatar of mob tyranny has seen the strategy of making only content that confirms a single comment, even the use of AI, to confirm a single comment of factless propaganda.

Governments around the world are not clear on whether the freedom enjoyed by social media up to the incarnation of 'deep fake' falls within the definition of 'freedom of expression' or not. The task of making the chaotic jungle of information flow true and factual, civilized and public interest oriented is very challenging. It should come as no surprise that social media was the first to run into the empty field, destroying mass media. The Jamaat, which is used to being satisfied with fragmented information from social media and taking serious decisions based on that, has lost the patience for long critical analysis and balanced news. The psychological study of the increasing mental coherence of addictively watching and reading the same material is different.