Is Media a Mirror or a Feedback Loop?

Media being a mirror would involve companies and brands observing their target audience's behaviors and interests. They would then take that data and formulate their marketing strategy or show or other form of entertainment around it. According to "The Merchants of Cool," media is not a mirror, but a feedback loop. A feedback loop being a group of people responding to media in a certain way, leading the media to react by catering more closely to that audience, and the cycle repeats.

I had never really considered this question. I knew that people's behaviors and habits were represented by media, but I never considered if the media had adopted those ideas from people, or if people adopted those ideas from media. The more I think about it, the harder it gets to pinpoint a solid answer.

But media has to be more of a feedback loop than just a mirror. The way certain groups of people (take teenagers for example) behave and think seems to be constantly changing. Take those old clips of MTV shows shown in "Merchants of Cool" for example. Those seemed to have entertained teens from 2001, but I really can't imagine many people my age enjoying that today. So media has to observe these changes and respond accordingly.

Most of the shows popular among teens today have some political undertones, and deal with social issues such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, and more. This is likely because today's youth is becoming more politically active and outspoken. They would want to see that reflected in the shows they watch. And by responding either negatively or positively to the way these issues are dealt with on TV, the writers can plan their next move. The audience itself is half of the production, providing the essential feedback loop.