ENG 1131

Writing Through Media

From the Oxford English Dictionary

media, n.
plural of MEDIUM n.

I. Simple uses.

1. The main means of mass communication, esp. newspapers, radio, and television, regarded collectively; the reporters, journalists, etc., working for organizations engaged in such communication. Also, as a count noun: a particular means of mass communication. Cf. MEDIUM n. 4d, MASS MEDIA n.

1923 G. SNOW in N. T. Praigg Advertising & Selling 240 Mass media represents the most economical way of getting the story over the new and wider market in the least time.

II. Compounds.

3. media education, elite, personality, relations; media-saturated adj. media baron, a powerful owner of media; spec. one thought to influence public opinion for political or personal ends (see BARON n.2b).
media blitz, media coverage of great thoroughness or intensity, freq. for advertising purposes. media centre U.S., a library, freq. in a school, college, etc., offering audio-visual facilities.
media circus, the media considered as forming a chaotic or unwieldy presence; spec. (an instance of) a mass of journalists gathering to report a major event.
media consultant, a person who advises on the most effective use of the media for public relations, campaigning, etc. media darling, a person who is featured frequently (and esp. favourably) in the mass media.
media event orig. U.S. Polit., an event which gains extensive (sometimes undue) coverage in the mass media, esp. one staged solely to attract such publicity. media-friendly a., suitable or attractive for mass media coverage.
media hype, extravagant or intensive publicity created by or by means of the mass media, esp. out of proportion to the person or thing being publicized.
media junkie, (a) a person who is dedicated to perusing the mass media; (b) a celebrity who craves attention from the mass media.
media man, a person who sells advertising space; (also) a person professionally involved in the media.
media market, the geographic or demographic area reached by a specific branch of the media. media mix, the combination of mass media selected, esp. in an advertising campaign, as most likely to achieve maximum impact on the public. media person, a person working in the media.
media room, a room in which the equipment or media for mass communication (as telephone, fax, computer, etc.) is fitted.
media-savvy a. = media-wise adj. media-shy a., unwilling to appear in or be covered by the mass media. mediaspeak, the kind of language seen as acceptable to the media, or used by those in the media.
media studies (freq. with sing. concord; also occas. in the sing. form as media study), analysis of the mass media; study of the media as an academic discipline.

immediacy

The quality or condition of being immediate; freedom from intermediate or intervening agency; direct relation or connexion; directness.

hypermedia, n. pl.

A method of structuring information in different media for presentation to a single user, usu. through a computing workstation, whereby related items of information are connected in the same way as in hypertext.

medium, n. and a.

I. Something which is intermediate between two degrees, amounts, qualities, or classes; a middle state.

II. A person or thing which acts as an intermediary.

An intermediate agency, instrument, or channel; a means; esp. a means or channel of communication or expression. Freq. in by (also through) the medium of.

Any of the varieties of painting or drawing as determined by the material or technique used. Hence more widely: any raw material or mode of expression used in an artistic or creative activity.

A channel of mass communication, as newspapers, radio, television, etc.; the reporters, journalists, etc., working for organizations engaged in such communication. Plural = media.

Any physical material (as tape, disk, paper, etc.) used for recording or reproducing data, images, or sound.

An intervening substance through which a force acts on objects at a distance or through which impressions are conveyed to the senses; any substance considered with regard to its properties as a vehicle of light or sound.

Painting. Any liquid substance (as oil, water, albumen, etc.) with which pigment is mixed for use in painting.

Photogr. A varnish used as a material in retouching. Now rare.

Theatre. A coloured filter in the form of a screen fixed in front of a light source which is directed at the stage. Now rare.

Papermaking. Of paper: between royal and demy in size. Now rare.