It can be safely said that the media has a very important role in shaping the markets and the economy. The media has the potential to bring fame to a business, but it also has the power to bring that business down.

The media is after stories that attract attention. It will not therefore settle for anything that is even less than mediocre. Either the story is extremely negative or extremely positive, you can almost bet on the media to exert all means to get to the bottom of the story. After all, running such compelling stories is one way the network the news outlet is involved in is able to earn money.

For example, when the media reports news of half of the population of the US believing that the economic situation will worsen and turn into something like the Great Depression, such a story is going to have millions of people glued to their TV sets, and this can mean more money from ad revenues.

On the other hand, while the mother company is earning a lot of money from such stories, more and more Americans are like to spend less money and pulling out their stock investments, crippling the economy even more. It’s a vicious cycle, but this is one situation that illustrates well how the media can affect the economy.