I recognize that, strictly speaking, the word media is the plural of medium and should require a plural verb:

The media were full of stories supporting the invasion of Iraq.

According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, the plural of medium is either mediums or media. In the world of art, one sometimes sees the term mixed mediums, which always makes me cringe.

At any rate, in one sense of the word medium, the plural is sometimes singular in construction when referring to a vehicle (such as a radio or television program or newspaper) used to carry advertising, according to the big, 40-lb. dictionary mentioned above.

My rationale, then, for sometimes using media with a singular verb, is that it was advertising for war.

Now you know.

S