The media is/the media are…

OldFrill

American English has a far greater influence on everyday communication than Latin, so insisting on Latin-based 'corrections' often ignores how language naturally evolves.
Ultimately the majority will follow American English and "media are" will be seen as old fashioned and an indicator of age (probably already is), for now, both are acceptable.

That is probably true, but there is a difference between one medium and several media, so the distinction matters, I think. I'm not one for getting upset about language evolving - nobody talks like Chaucer these days - but where words have different meanings I think it's important to use them to describe the concepts they represent.

Latin medium means means as in means of communication.
Plural of medium is media. So "the media" means means of communication, ie tv, newspapers, Internet etc.
A psychic can be called a medium because they are a means of communication with people who have died.
So the media are, not is.

OldFrill

American English has a far greater influence on everyday communication than Latin, so insisting on Latin-based 'corrections' often ignores how language naturally evolves.
Ultimately the majority will follow American English and "media are" will be seen as old fashioned and an indicator of age (probably already is), for now, both are acceptable.

Well this is the problem isn't it? There's so much dumbing down of our language coming from America. We should be teaching them how to speak, not the other way round. Let them learn Latin! 🤓 📚

I stick to the Latin. It also seems misleading to say that social media is. There are many (too many?) social media.

It's the same with the use of of the word 'data'. I always understood that data are plural.

American English has a far greater influence on everyday communication than Latin, so insisting on Latin-based 'corrections' often ignores how language naturally evolves.
Ultimately the majority will follow American English and "media are" will be seen as old fashioned and an indicator of age (probably already is), for now, both are acceptable.

Latin. Medium singular. Media plural. So media are.

This takes me back to doing Latin at school. It's definitely
medium = single - therefore medium is
media = plural - therefore media are

Just think of other Latin words:
aquarium single/aquaria plural
auditorium single/auditoria plural

These nouns form their plurals by changing the ending from -ium to -ia

Either

The media are channels of communication - radio, tv, cinema, newspapers, social media, discussion boards, even text messages and WhatsApp groups. Think of the jokey reference to the medium of interpretive dance .

It's unusual to use the word in a singular form - people would be more likely to say 'type' or 'channel', which mean pretty much the same thing, or just refer to the medium itself, and say 'tv' or whatever, but when talking about 'the media', as in ways of getting messages across, they are referring to several media (or mediums, if you like), so use the plural.

The terms are used in advertising, but are also part of broader Communication Theory, which is used to describe various ways of passing on messages.

Media is plural because it refers to several different medium.

According to google. The word comes out of the advertising industry. They use the word 'media' to refer to newspapers, radio and tv - the mass media. It follows that one of them is the medium. Therefore medium is, media are.

I'd say "is", but then I don't understand the rules.

M0nica

The medium is, the media are.

This is how I use the words.

The medium is, the media are.

‘The media is…’ still sounds all wrong to me.

I think of it as a collective noun, so can be used as singular or plural, depending on the meaning. Similar to herd or flock.

The media is gathered across the street. (they are a singular group)
The media are surrounding the celebrity. (they are moving as individuals)

Does that make sense?

I think I say the media are, and they aren’t all the same.
Originally ‘the news’ was plural but that’s long gone.

Another vote for 'the media is'

"Media" is being used as a single entity lumping them all as one, hence 'the media is . . .'