Large media conglomerates set the agenda. These outlets and platforms are owned and controlled by corporations, governments and the elite, this media in turn influences the market by influencing the behaviour of the people. Along with material goods we ‘the people’ consume information – an infinite amount on a daily basis, from what people believe to be somewhat reliable trustworthy sources. Not only do we consume the media we are a product of the media.

Taking economic bubbles as a departure point, I have begun to research how the media influences the market rather than objectively reporting on market occurrences. Economist and Nobel prize winner Robert Schiller claims that bubbles did not exist before there was news media. Basing his argument on the first economic bubble, ‘​Tulip Mania’​ , which occurred in the Netherlands in the 1600’s, at the time the Netherlands was a powerful economic entity but it was also the publishing capital of the world, therefore the media defined the concept of an economic bubble and perhaps generated ‘​Tulip Mania’​ in the first place.

Naom Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, from their book “​Manufacturing Consent​” state that ‘mass media are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function’. The premise of the theory is that since media outlets are profit driven corporations they are in fact subject to the control of market forces. This ‘​propaganda model’​ developed by Chomsky and Herman is even more relevant today with the addition of social media platforms providing daily news sources. Online platforms operate and control the flow of information through the same five filters as traditional media outlets. These five filters, outlined by Chomsky and Herman, are Ownership, Advertising, the Media Elite, Flak, and the Common Enemy. Independent media outlets also fall victim to a combination of these filters even if they are putting honest investigative journalism at the forefront of the outlet. It costs to run a media outlet and journalists have to get paid. There may not be an alternative to mass media but my proposal would be the formation of a fully funded, transparent, international, multi media conglomerate, made up entirely of independent news media outlets.

At the 2018 Istanbul Design Biennial, School of Schools in Arter under the name of The School of Consumption, we presented a bilingual radio play and live performance, co-written and co-produced by myself, Annamaria Merkel and Evita Rigert. Focused around a hybrid contemporary character, called M`n`M, the incarnation of capital and state, inspired by Mercury (The God of Trade and Midas (The King with the golden Touch). The character proceeded to have a bilingual (Turkish and English) debate on a news talk show about the current economic system in which they are both key players. This was in collaboration with “Perfom Istnbul” – The first contemporary Platform for Performance Art in Turkey.