Western media is the mass media of the Western world. During the Cold War, Western media contrasted with Soviet media. Western media has gradually expanded into developing countries (often, non-Western countries) around the world.

The roots of the Western media can be traced back to the late 15th century, when printing presses began to operate throughout Western Europe. The emergence of news media in the 17th century has to be seen in close connection with the spread of the printing press, from which the publishing press derives its name.

In Britain, newspapers developed during a period of political upheaval that challenged the absolute rule of the British monarchy. In 1641, newspapers were allowed to publish domestic news for the first time. Despite strict controls placed by the political elite on the print media to restrict the expansion of the press, the print industry continued to grow. By the late 18th century, over 10 million newspapers were distributed annually in Britain alone.

Bosah Ebo writes that "during the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in an intense media diplomacy aimed to create international image of each other." Voice of America and Radio Free Europe were established by the U.S. as counterpoints to the Communist-dominated news media in the Eastern Bloc. Scholar James Schwoch writes, "Western-inspired television programming and development in Cold War Germany and Europe began as not so much a case of the unfettered free flow of information from West to East, but rather as a strong counterbalance preventing, or discouraging, the Soviet-sourced first flow of the European television landscape."

During the Cold War, Western media outlets were gradually accepted as a trustworthy and reliable source of news. In former East Germany, surveys showed that over 91% of migrants from East Germany perceived Western media outlets to be more reliable than East German media outlets.

New Left Review editor Tariq Ali asserts that "the notion of a free press in the Western media in the 20 century evolved as a counterpoint to the monopolistic State-owned model of erstwhile Soviet Union with the aim of showing its superiority by accommodating diversity of voices. In terms of what it published and what it showed, the Western media gained its peak during the Cold War era."

Criticism of the media coverage leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq has been acute. One study examined every evening television news story related to Iraq on ABC, CBS, and NBC. The study found that "that news coverage conformed in some ways to the conventional wisdom: Bush administration officials were the most frequently quoted sources, the voices of anti-war groups and opposition Democrats were barely audible, and the overall thrust of coverage favored a pro-war perspective." However, the study also found that "it is too facile to conclude that anti-war positions were completely marginalized. In contrast to the common critiques of media coverage, even as elites in the United States were not publicly sparring, journalists turned to foreign officials for the anti-war perspective." The network media did commonly report "opposition from abroad—in particular, from Iraq and officials from countries such as France, who argued for a diplomatic solution to the standoff."

Max Abrahms, writing in Foreign Affairs, has criticized Western media's coverage of the Syrian Civil War, arguing that it is overly favorable to the Syrian opposition and fails to take into account extremist elements within the opposition.