A creative ecosystem: regional journalism as scalable and integrated practice

Using a creative ecosystems approach, this paper demonstrates that journalism is deeply embedded in the interconnected ecosystem of publishing and, at a higher level, the creative industries. Analysis of data from seven regional areas in New South Wales and Victoria revealed that newsrooms and journalists are vertically integrated with national and international journalistic practices and economic imperatives and also horizontally integrated with other sectors in the creative industries. The analysis revealed a scalable yet integrated ecosystem at work with complex and interconnected journalistic practices on display. This view moves beyond the usual normative approach to studying journalism. We are not asserting that journalists should be doing certain things, as important as that is, but drawing attention to the fact that using this lens allows us a different and useful perspective on what they are actually doing.