The media space today is flooded with columns. Every day dozens of „analysts," „experts," „connoisseurs" and „independent intellectuals" write texts that supposedly explain reality. But more and more, the public is putting itself a dangerous question - are some of those columns real analyses or well-packaged political and business commissions?

In a state where trust in institutions is low, and the media market is economically dependent, the column has become the cheapest and most powerful weapon for shaping public opinion. No television needed, no debate needed, no investigation needed. One „strong" text is enough, a few portals, sharing on social networks, and an atmosphere is created that „the public thinks this way."

More and more often we see identical positions on multiple portals on the same day. The same messages, the same constructions, the same „coincidental" narratives. When that gets repeated ten times, it's no longer opinion - it's an organised campaign.

What's most worrying is that the column, which once was a space for intellectual debate, today often turns into:

• strong political colouring,
• emotional and confrontational style,
• personalisation of topics,
• a small distance between the author and the political/business centres,
• huge over-production.

The column was never supposed to be a party megaphone, a personal score-settling or a paid piece dressed up as „analysis." A real column is much more than an opinion. It is a position the author stands behind with name, knowledge, arguments and personal integrity.

A columnist is not a person who writes what the public wants to hear. A columnist is a person who has the courage to also write what nobody wants to hear.

At a time when the media are flooded with clicks, sensations and daily political wars, the column should be the last place where reason still lives. A space where facts matter more than insults, and arguments are stronger than emotions.

A real column isn't written to please a centre of power.
It isn't written for a tender.
It isn't written for a grant.
It isn't written for a party.
And it isn't written to win applause from „its own."