News as “Environment”

News as environment refers to the one formed by the ever-evolving array of various types of news texts, which can be termed as “news environment”. Media ecology serves as the foundation for shaping news environment, with news texts being the fundamental building blocks. The unification of “spontaneous” and “deliberate” approaches is the basic mechanism of the news environment. The news environment consists of three layers: the sign environment, the information environment, and the meaning environment. The sign environment represents the “surface”, the information environment is the “middle layer”, and the “meaning environment” is the “deep layer” of the structure of the news environment. The news environment is a mediated one, embodying a harmony between authenticity and virtuality, stability and changeability. It is not only the setting where politics, economy, culture, military, diplomacy operate, but also a pervasive backdrop within the daily lives of the general public.