Neil Postman, Media Ecologist

This article is based on the premise that media ecology was Neil Postman's most significant and lasting achievement. Beginning with Postman's formal introduction of the term media ecology at the 58th annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, which was held in Milwaukee in 1968, this article discusses the coining of the term and its diffusion. Postman's definition and interpretations of media ecology are then considered, followed by a discussion of the ways in which Postman considered media ecology to be a form of praxis and, in effect, a moral ecology.