media

A generic term for systems of production and dissemination of information and entertainment and of exertion of various kinds of social controls. Unlike a channel which is limited to a contiguous physical medium between the sender and a receiver of communications, media include the institutions which determine the nature, programming and form of distribution. E.g., mass media is the generic term for newspapers, book publishing, radio and television. Other media include the recording industry, movie industry and theater. All media are associated with more or less elaborate forms of audience participation. (Krippendorff )