The media and the business world are two respectively independent entities, but are they truly separate from one another? Anyone who has seen the result of Elon Musk’s Twitter posts could argue that these two entities are wholly dependent on each other. Meanwhile, any stock market aficionado could claim that there are easily identifiable trends that indicate where the market is heading regardless of media influence. If both statements are widely held, which one is true?
The answer is that both opinions are valid. The media and the business world can operate efficiently without the other's influence, but to truly succeed or fail at an exponentially high or low level, they must interact with one another. The less common influence we see is when the success or failure of a company leads to the increase or limitation of media distribution. For example, Delta Air Lines’ in-flight magazine, Sky, ceased publication and consequently laid off the magazine’s entire staff. This cancellation limits the spread of both media and information. However, it is always important to remember that a media company is still very much a company, and it is still subject to its current market and environment. Still, on the other side of the coin, we can easily see how media exposure can lead to the growth or potential detriment of a company.
The most recent and drastic instance of this occurrence was the rapid increase of the stock market price for GameStop in January of 2021. During this time, all over different social media sites, there was a frenzy of people fighting to stop GameStop from going under by investing highly into the stock of the company. The combined forces of thousands of different people across various social media sites caused a gigantic spike in GameStop’s stock prices. Consequently, this sudden rise allowed GameStop to stay in business, although whether the effects of the stock rise hold true in the long run remains to be seen. The GameStop rise is not the only one of its kind, and shortly following the success of the rise, there was a similar attempt made to boost AMC’s stock prices, although it was moderately less successful.
Alternatively, there have been a myriad of cases in which bad publicity has tanked a company’s stock and their overall success, which is part of the reason companies pay such exorbitant prices for marketing and good PR. The comprehensive and undeniable truth, when presented with all the facts, is that the media and the business world are so heavily intertwined that, for better or for worse, one cannot make a decision or a choice without it influencing the other.
Comments