In the modern era, transparency has become easier to foster and confidentiality is in
jeopardy. Technology has altered the structure of the public sphere and so changed the
quality of democratic governance. The mass media have dominated the public sphere for
a century. Mass media made it possible for populists to communicate their simplified
messages directly to the people. Often part their message is a simplified conspiracy theory
about how the elite may harm the people. This is the populist interpretation of transparency
and accountability, as it was summarized by Pehe as follows: