ABSTRACT
I have used the phrase ‘news ecology’ not as a verbal ornament but because the word ‘ecology’ refers to the relationship of things as they interact with one another and their environment. In short, it shows the interdependence of forces at work that interact with one another to create today’s news environment. Attempts to explain this environment which ignore the ecological relationship of technology, regulation, the concentration of ownership and the competition between news providers will not provide a proper understanding of the news. To take one example, technical innovation and capacity interact with the regulatory framework within which ownership and competition are conducted. As a result, issues such as censorship, the vertical integration of companies, cross-media ownership and market distortion combine criteria that are political, economic, legal and moral in a complex environment within which news production and reporting resides. This chapter examines this environment from 1979 to the present day, our third period noted in Chapter 2.
