Madam, - Having become accustomed to the repeated use in The Irish Times of the word graffiti as a singular noun, I thought I had become impervious to this particular type of mangling of the English language by a once punctilious newspaper. But I admit to a sense of shock at the heading on page 9 of your edition of June 5th: "Putin insists media is free in Russia".
I suppose the people is free too.
- Yours etc,
RONAN FARREN, Avondale Road, Killiney, Co Dublin.
The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium and has traditionally been treated as a plural noun. However, the New Oxford Dictionary of English observes: "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."
It is now Irish Times style to treat media as a singular noun when used in this sense. - Ed., IT.