Why is the noun "media" almost always treated as singular these days?

[Islander]

Having spent some of the best years of my life as an educator, writer, editor and public/press relations manipulator, I like to think I know my way around the English language. Lately I've noticed what I'd tag as a misuse: sources that should know better treating the word "media" as singular, to wit:

Usually the media loves to play up these "character moments..." - huffpost.com

...what the partisan media normally does to Republicans... - politico.com

...the Tea Party gained a lot of steam from FOX Noise, but it has real roots big media does everything to deny. - truth-out.org

The word is plural; it refers to a collection of communication tools. There are the broadcast media (radio is one medium, television is another medium); there are the print media (newspapers are a medium; magazines are another). Then there are the social media (Facebook, LinkedIn etc., each one a medium for information exchange).

Insist on a cite? Here y'go, from dictionary.com:

me·di·a: noun
1. a plural of medium.
2. ( usually used with a plural verb ) the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely: The media are covering the speech tonight.

There you are. I think it's sloppy usage. Have at it.