Mapping news ecosystems: A theoretical parsing of the concept, and a new typology for the approach.

This study is the first step of a larger project defining, identifying, mapping and evaluating local news ecosystems, with the goal of determining which are "healthy" and which need intervention, perhaps through policy or philanthropy. Here, we synthesize the ecosystem literature, categorizing the broad contours of existing research, and comparing the strengths and limitations of each type of study. A key contribution of this paper is the creation of a typology by which most, if not all, existing news ecosystem studies can be categorized: based on the guiding metaphor for how ecosystems are construed (environmentally or rhizomatically), how ecosystem boundaries are defined (whether organically or by government-drawn lines such as municipal borders), and by scope (case study versus a scalable approach). We conclude that the most thorough - and thus most difficult and rarely attempted - studies are rhizomatic, organic and scaled, and suggest methods for conducting such studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]