How did the media contribute to the public's lack of faith in the economy during the Great Depression?

In the 1920s, the media and popular culture had
contributed to spread euphoria about consumer culture that came to be closely identified
with and celebrated as modernity. This enthusiasm for modern products was often
contrasted with traditional values which were parodied as old-fashioned. The advent of
the Great Depression, however, suddenly showed that the media could also go the opposite
way and destroy the myth of consumer culture that they had
created.

The media machine itself was one of the victims of
the Depression. Newspaper circulation declined and advertising revenues went down by
almost half their value. several film studios declared bankruptcy as a result of
shrinking audiences. Yet, the media remained tools that could mold nation-wide beliefs.
In the 1920s and 1930s, sound was an important addition to the media both through films
and the radio whose reporting reached half of the American homes by the mid-1930s. With
sounds and images, in addition to the written word, the media painted vivid and dramatic
pictures of the impact of the Depression on the lives of the poor. Reporters and
photographers joined forces and travelled aound the United States creating the genre of
photojournalism. Appearing in widely-circulating magazines such as Survey
Geographic and Life, photojournalist essays combined
powerful articles with sensitive and intimate photographs that constitute an importance
legacy for the history of photography. Photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Walker
Evans and Margaret Bourke-White have left images that document the harsh realities of
the Depression. Although these pieces may have damaged the faith of Americans in a swift
recovery, they were generally progressive efforts and acted as a support to Roosevelt's
New Deal program. They validated the President's argument that the federal government
should manage economic affairs.

Roosevelt soon realized
that the media were decisive in shaping a positive image of his Administration in the
American mind. Conservative magnates such as William Randolph Hearst, Roy Howard and
Robert McCormick were the owners of large newspaper chains. Thus they often took a
negative attitude toward the actions of the Administration and tried to prevent
Roosevelt's plan to restore confidence in the American people. They largely ignored the
President's press releases. Yet, the President countered this hostility with an
assertive use of the media through his press conferences and the famous "fireside
chats".