To political science, media are the people and the institutions that produce and distribute information, mostly on and to others.

The vertical axis places media as an intermediate between people and the state. While media also channel information within these two units, much of the traffic is between the state and its citizens. Information is generated at both ends and the media are the channel through which this information goes back and forth. The horizontal axis captures the media environment. Democracy refers to the way journalists see their role within the state, as democracy's facilitators. With all their good intentions and ideals, journalists are nevertheless well aware that they operate within the constraints of a business whose mission is providing information to the people while also selling it to them.