The Role of the Media in Today’s Economy

The economy is never far from our minds, whether we like it or not. The media keeps the state of the economy all around us. Newspapers, radio, television, magazines, and the internet bombard us with the good, the bad, and the ugly (mostly the latter two) on an up to the minute basis. Not only does the media report on the economy, it also affects the very economy on which it reports.

The media’s role in the economy is two-fold. Its main role is to report the facts in an unbiased manner. In a perfect world, those facts would be simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, that is often not the case. Journalists and news media are sometimes swayed by the media owner’s bottom line. They may skew the news in a way that benefits the success of their corporation. They may have a vested interest in economic policies that are under review and may slant the reports of those policies to influence the public. For example, the stimulus bill we have all been learning about is several thousand pages long and full of complicated ways to spend billions of dollars. The general public (and most of Congress) is not likely to read and understand this entire bill. The news media chooses to report on what they feel is necessary in terms of what the bill contains. The media condenses and simplifies the information however it sees fit, which gives them a wide berth to tell the news in a positive or negative light.

The second role of the media in the economy is to advertise products and services. All forms of media are supported in some part by advertising. People read or listen to different forms of media, while consciously or subconsciously absorbing the products and services touted in the ads and commercials surrounding the news stories. As people see what is available, they buy. Spending money stimulates the economy.

The internet has vastly changed the way media affects the economy. The World Wide Web makes it possible for everyone to have instant access to news and information in all corners of the globe on a second by second basis. Stock market trends, blogs, political websites, opinion pieces, news of environmental disasters, setbacks or success in wars, etc are all at our fingertips. This information can turn the economy on a dime depending on the feelings of hope or fear that people gather from this news. When people are afraid for their future and well-being they tend to not spend money or take risks in the stock market, which can have a devastating effect on the economy. Positive spin and hope have the opposite effect.

It seems clear to me that the media does play a big role in the economy, in more ways than one. I feel it is important to take advantage of the many forms of media available to me and to do my own research in order to truly understand what is going on in the economy today.