From BBC News: Many people don't know about the enormous progress most countries have made in recent decades - or maybe the media hasn't told them.

Shouldn't it be "...media haven't...?" Am I stuck in Strunk and don't know black from White?

Your reading seems to have a UK slant.

In searching for an answer online, I found about 50/50 citations for "media have" and "media has" ("media has" wins by about 45,000). There are a number of forums addressing this topic, though no clear answer. I'd say "media are," but then I think either way is acceptable.

It is similar to "data are" versus "data is." I always write "data are," but often see "data is."

According to MWDEU, the count noun singular "media" is established in specialized areas. The plural medias is less common than the singular media, and both are less common than the plural media. It is also used as a collective noun that can take either the singular or plural verb. When it takes the singular verb it is preceded by "the" instead of "a, one, this" and always refers to mass media.

I would disambiguate - to my mind, at least - by prefixing the type of medium, as in, "the news media," or "the entertainment media," Hmmmm: news/entertainment? Same thing these days!

What about "medium?" I've seen that used.

quote:

Geoff:
Same thing thee days!

Very droll. You have CNN to a "t".

Your media, plural or singular, is a provocative example. I very much tend to "the media is ...", but would be hard pressed to support it (except by succumbing to the "popular usage" cop-out)!

Do you say "The Olympic Games are the world's greatest sport event" or "The Olympic Games is the world's greatest sport event" or even, maybe, "The Olympic Games are the world's greatest sport events"? Again, I tend to the second usage ... same reasons.

So, I suppose I see "the media" and "The Olympic Games" each as single entities that merely happen to be composed of many parts.

On Saturday mornings, here in Toronto, I often get to watch English premier league soccer. One language quirk that always catches my attention is the British commentators' referring to the team in the plural, as in "Manchester United are not what they were two years ago". For me, the natural usage is very much "Manchester United is ...".

Is the Manchester United a team? We'd, for example, say, "The Chicago Bears are the worst team around." (And, by the way, they definitely are.) Of course, Bears is already plural. Maybe that's the difference. United is singular.

I'm certain we've discussed this before. It's really quite simple. For collective nouns like "orchestra", "team", "Government", "police" and so on you just consider whether you are thinking of them as a single homogeneous entity or as many individuals and then choose your verb agreement accordingly.
If you aren't sure then it's a pretty good bet that either will do.

Yes, Bob mentions the usual British usage. Americans (and, apparently, Canadians) seem far more concerned about subject-verb agreement. British newspapers all seem to have made the style choice that collective nouns such as the name of a team are always plural. That means that in some cases a sentence reads oddly even to my British eye when they refer to a team as a unit but use a plural verb.

I didn't realize Americans ware more concerned with subject-verb agreement, but I see your point with how exasperated American writers get. Perhaps we're as bad with subject-verb agreement as the British are with apostrophes.

I agree with Bob's comment generally. But the material point is whether "media" is reasonably handled as a collective noun. I think it is.

BTW, I don't see "police" in the same way as your other examples, Bob. I would always say "The police are....". Wouldn't you?

You are right that "police" is a poorly chosen example. In the UK we would, when meaning the singular entity, say "the police force". I could argue and contrive some examples that use "police" with "is" but they would be contrived and not really convincing. You are correct.

Also "media" is a rather different case corresponding perhaps to "dice" which, the extreme pedants would maintain can only be used if you have more than one with "die" being the correct singular. The fact that both "dice" and "media" are often used singularly doesn't stop people complaining that they shouldn't be.

Maybe my family members are just precriptivists, but when referring to one die, they call it a die. Two - it's dice.

Me, too. We've talked about this before.

Tinman! I was just thinking about you today and wondering where you've been. I hope all is well.