Expert: Term ‘media’ often misused by the general public

Some experts say the term “media” is often used improperly by the general public.

Dr. Jennifer Cox, an associate professor at Salisbury University, says the term is generally used by researchers to describe all forms of mass communication.

This can include social media sites and applications like Facebook and Snapchat, according to Dr. Cox; however, some people some people tend improperly use it to only describe large T.V. channels or other forms of journalism.

The problem, she says, is the term is actually a blanket statement and lumping all journalists in one basket can be problematic.

“The danger in doing that is we’re really limiting our perspective and we start looking to organizations like Breitbart or organizations that consider themselves outside of the realm of traditional media and we start to them at their word and it’s really no better,” Dr. Cox explains. “In fact, it’s much worse.”

Cox is an associate professor of communication arts.