Which is correct: “All the media is” or “all the media are”?

Question

I think I know that media is a plural word.

So then which one is correct,

"All the media is"

or

"All the media are"?

When you search Google, both seem to appear at the same frequency...

Answer 1

Actually, when I google for these phrases, I'm seeing this:

• "all the media are" — 110,000
• "all the media is" — 225,000

The Corpus of Contemporary American English paints a similar picture, though the sample size is rather small (1 vs 3 cites). You get more results if you leave out the "all" (445 vs 602). These numbers also include a few cites of the form "the quality of the media is..." or "many in the media are...", which are obviously not relevant here, but the overall trend is still rather clear.

The British National Corpus, on the other hand, favors the plural form. There are fewer results overall, so I took my time to check every single one for relevance, and here's the overview:

                      BNC         COCA        Google

the media are         43           445?
all the media are      1            1         110,000
the media is          19           602?
all the media is       0            3         225,000

So the Americans prefer the singular form, while the British prefer the plural. This should come as no surprise knowing that the British like to treat other collective nouns such as staff, Microsoft or Metallica as plural, too, while Americans prefer the singular. See these answers to related questions:

• Is staff plural?
• Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?

Answer 2

Language and usage evolve, but I’m sufficiently reactionary to regard “media” as plural, regardless of contemporary examples. In regard to the Fourth Estate, “media” to me signifies the print medium, the broadcast medium, et. al.

Of course, this comes from one who occasionally uses “Yr. obt. svt.” as the complimentary closing on my correspondence...

Answer 3

Media can be treated either as singular or plural. When used in the singular, it is often treated as a collective noun.

The media has gone insane about this trial.

Here is what the OED online says:

The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium. The traditional view is that it should therefore be treated as a plural noun in all its senses in English and be used with a plural rather than a singular verb: the media have not followed the reports (rather than ‘has ’). In practice, in the sense ‘television, radio, and the press collectively ’, it behaves as a collective noun (like staff or clergy, for example), which means that it is now acceptable in standard English for it to take either a singular or a plural verb. The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense ‘the material or form used by an artist’: there were great efforts made by the medias of the involved countriesabout 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for review.

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (see page 630) also notes the use of media in the singular. It gives examples of it being used as a singular countable noun as well.

. . . partly as a cultural media. -- American Journal of Sociology, 1948

. . . producing a suitable media for organic life. --Britannica Book of the Year 1946

. . . an optical disc media. -- Predicasts Technology Update, 1987

In short, the usage of media as a singular noun is well-documented.

Answer 4

I think treating "the media" as a singular (when speaking of the Fourth Estate) has become so overwhelmingly common now that it has to be treated as acceptable, though it bothers me and I would always personally prefer the plural usage.

If the sentence were about data storage media or some such, I think the plural would be more strongly called for.