To be or not to be present in the media

The hallmark of the 21st century is the rapid flow of information, yet the new technologies that facilitated it have opened the floodgates for twisting reality to an unprecedented degree. A parallel world has been created and goes on existing virtually. All it has in common with the real one is references to the realities and notions we know well, and it has no intention whatsoever of building anything real on that foundation.

 

Creation and fiction have been awarded a place of honour side-by-side with facts.

 

So does flirting with the modern media (which most of us experience, after all) make sense? Or conversely, can we at all afford not to be visible in the media today?

 

And you will probably admit that it could be hard to find a better place for such reflections than a social media platform.

 

The use of the word “media” in an adjectival sense has undergone significant evolution. It is now applied not only to facts and media-related matters but also to people and behaviours that look and sound good in the media and can rivet the attention of viewers – or on rarer occasions, listeners.

 

Essentially, the fourth estate, as the media are sometimes called, has crafted a particular type of personality that ensures visibility and becoming imprinted in audiences’ memories.

 

Obviously, there is nothing wrong with that, as long as that media presence goes hand-in-hand with the message conveyed. The trouble begins when we remember somebody from the media, yet we are incapable of recalling what it was they had to say, and whether we agree with them or not.

 

She’s pretty. He’s handsome. They are the ones we often spot in front of press walls. He must be an actor, she a writer, singer… But what film did he star in? What role did she perform, and in what drama? What did he write, what did she sing? We have no idea, and those who peddle a succession of faces before our eyes do not expect that from us at all. Perhaps – and that is the real disaster – even the celebrities we admire don’t expect it themselves, because they don’t need it. It’s enough to be recognised.

 

For artists, media presence is in a sense an inherent part of the job description.

Yet it has plentiful downsides. Somebody who chooses such a life must be aware that they are forfeiting their privacy: now, any event, however trivial, may become the subject of a heated, albeit pointless, online discussion. A make-up malfunction can be analysed for days, and going out with someone for dinner could launch an avalanche of speculations and comments, at times quite tasteless.

 

Are we ready to pay such a price? And is that coveted recognisability even worth it?

 

In this day and age, the media reign supreme. As much as TV once used to preside over our minds and our lives, the sceptre has been taken over by the online media, who outpace traditional outlets with the speed of information transfer, immediacy and facility of access, and scope for immediate reactions from the audience.

It is not unheard of that an artist becomes a product, custom-tailored to a precise recipe: an attractively packaged trinket. The artist must be trimmed precisely to the shape envisioned by the ranks of people managing their media presence. Everything has been calculated and spreadsheeted: the costume, the behaviour, the media statements.

 

There is hardly any room left for individuality, for authenticity, and for independence. They are not absolutely out of the question, though, for you can also take things into your hands and refuse to give in to the imposed narrative. This may not fill stadiums for you, but it might save a morsel of your artistic soul.

 

The contemporary artist also needs a touch of an entrepreneurial soul. And it’s not only about resilience to potential failures and defeats, as it is about the idea of how to present yourself and your work to a broader audience. On the one hand, social media offers great support here, as a tool for reaching potentially interested parties directly, yet on the other hand, its popularity makes it progressively more difficult to break through with, no matter the quality of what you have to offer.

And this is where the titular media presence comes to the aid.

 

What about business? Business is not overfond of publicity. As the old saying goes, money loves silence. This obviously does not concern straightforward advertising aimed at boosting sales results but throwing charming smiles from the headlines of glitzy gossip columns, parading the more or less fiery-red carpets, and summoning paparazzi to camp outside your front door.

Well, human nature being what it is, vanity has been well known to affect businesspeople too. And it’s not out of the question that a full-fledged media presence can swallow them whole.

 

Obviously, it is extreme cases that we’re referring to here. A different matter is a well-planned media strategy in support of sound business policy, one that does not feed your ego but has an impact on the perception of the business and boosts its image. Not an end in itself, but an activity subordinated to the general vision and plans that go far beyond bare media visibility.

 

Art and business need an audience, as they die when sentenced to isolation.

Nobody establishes an enterprise to boast all the relevant entries in the official records. No artist dreams of their works lying at the bottom of a drawer, detached from audiences, viewers, or readers.

 

There is something that not even the best media image cannot replace: the personal contact with the audience. This is equally important for businesspeople and artists. And this shows that the two professions are not as distant as they are generally believed to be.

A conversation with a business partner or client is far more effective face-to-face than on the phone or via email. A sonata gains more profound significance and stirs tenderer strings if we perform it live before an audience, eliciting sincere and uncalculated emotions.

 

Technologies and the media are there to serve people, and not to build barriers between them. They are tools to be used for good or for bad. We must know how to harness them and make them serve our own purposes. After all, it is the dog that ought to wag the tail, and not the other way around. And that is the most important takeaway to remember.