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Sorry for the sideline discussion, but ...
Anonymous, you're neglecting the fact the "the media" is being used as a mass noun, for which there's no clear substitute. I said before that it's synonymous with "the press," but actually it's not; it's a broader category than the press, and it refers to much more than simply the plural of "medium," which would suggest channels of communication but not the individuals employing them. In this increasingly common sense of the word, "the media" is most definitely a thing, a single group, which need not imply likemindedness among its members. Evidence that it's being used as a mass noun can be seen in the fact that with this usage it would make no sense to treat things within that group as countable--we wouldn't say "Three media are ..." unless reverting to the other (and quite different) meaning of the word (the plural of "medium").
Merriam-Webster already accepts the use of singular verbs with "data," by the way, and usage guides are now acknowledging this as standard usage for "media," too. (See Garner's Modern American Usage.) "I graduated Notre Dame" is simply incorrect because it has no meaning apart from the grammatically correct phrasing, and thus is unnecessary. This case is different.
