Appalachia is a region relatively rich in natural resources that go a long way to helping the region grow. But to exploit these resources companies need a source of cheap labor so that their profit margins could be as large as possible. The biggest industry that was complicit in this was the coal industry. For them to make as much money as possible they kept the people more downtrodden so they portrayed them as dumb hillbillies so that their self worth was lower and they were easier to take advantage of. There was also the textile industry that worked the same way, they knew that if they represented these people one way and the people eventually came to believe it themselves they would be able to use them for cheap labor and maybe be able to pit them against each other. The media portrayed them this way because for them to be able to keep getting money from these big companies they needed to keep serving the companies interests. Unfortunately this stigma still sticks to the Appalachian people even though they have a rich vibrant culture.