What Is the Definition of News Media?

What is the definition of news media? News media is a very general term that is used to encompass all types of media that are used to broadcast the news. This includes print media such as newspapers and magazines, broadcast media like radio and television stations, and Internet media such as web pages and blogs. All are examples of news media and part of the answer to the definition of news media.

According to the dictionary, the definition of news is:

1. new information about anything; information previously unknown
2. reports, collectively, of recent happenings, esp. those broadcast over radio or TV, printed in a newspaper, etc.
3. any person or thing thought to merit special attention in such reports

The relevant definition of media is:

1. the occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing, or broadcasting news.
2. the occupation of running a news organization as a business.
3. the press, printed publications, and their employees.
4. an academie program preparing students in reporting, writing, and editing for periodicals and newspapers. —journalist, n. — journalistic, adj.

Thus, the definition of news media combined refers to any material that is used to spread or disseminate the news. 

What Does the "Media" Mean in News Media

While the dictionary definition helps define "news media," it is also helpful to delve a little deeper into what the words mean in this context.

• The term “media” is loosely used to refer to the way in which something is presented, i.e. the method by which creation or delivery takes place.
• Think about the idea of an artist, who works in a “medium” such as clay or paint. He or she is delivering the message they want to send via the medium in which they’re working.

Similarly, media (the plural of “medium”) is the way in which the message, in this case the news, is delivered.

Changes to News Media

News media has changed drastically over the past century. 

• The invention of the printing press was, of course, a major change, allowing for the mass printing and distribution of news in the form of newspapers and flyers.
• Similarly, the invention of radio and its gradual appearance in every home created a huge change in the field of news media. Now everyone could hear events live as they took place; news could be transmitted instantly and to every listener at once.
• Of course, television created still another leap, giving the audience the chance not only to hear news, but to see it taking place.
• The Internet brought both immediacy and interactivity to the world of news media. The Internet puts billions of pages of information directly at our fingertips with the click of a mouse, and it also makes it possible for anyone to broadcast his or her own news, or opinions on the news, via web blogs, comments on news web pages, online forums, and more.

Problems with the Term "News Media"

The term “news media” can be misleading, and has been criticized in the past, because many people assume that the generality of the phrase means that all of the media included therein function as a single entity.

Hearing that “the news media” is stating a certain fact, or that “the news media” will be reporting on an event, may lead some people to believe that the media is a mass conglomerate that takes care of all of the reporting from a single point of view. This simply isn’t the case and isn't supported by the definition of the news media.

The news media is simply an umbrella term that’s used to include all forms of expression of the news, including all methods, all points of view, and all points of origin therein.