MASS COMMUNICATION TRANSFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL MEDIA ERA: CHANGES IN INFORMATION PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS
Keywords:
Mass Communication, Digital Media, News Production, News Consumption, Algorithmic Gatekeeping, IndonesiaAbstract
Background: Digital media have altered the basic architecture of mass communication. Professional media are no longer the only institutions that produce, select, distribute, and frame public information; platforms, algorithms, creators, and audiences now participate in a continuous circulation process. Aims: This article examines how digital media transform the production and consumption of information and proposes an integrated framework for understanding the shift from linear mass communication to platform-mediated communication. Research Method: The study uses an integrative literature review that prioritizes peer-reviewed scholarship on digital journalism, media convergence, platformization, algorithmic gatekeeping, audience participation, and news consumption, complemented by current evidence from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 and Indonesia-specific studies. Results and Conclusion: The synthesis identifies six connected transformations: newsroom production becomes continuous and multimedia; gatekeeping becomes hybrid; distribution becomes platform-dependent; consumption becomes mobile, personalized, video-oriented, and partly incidental; audiences increasingly act as redistributors and co-producers; and behavioral data feed back into editorial and commercial decisions. In Indonesia, 64% of respondents in the 2026 Digital News Report said they used social media for news, illustrating the growing importance of third-party platforms in the information chain. Yet this expansion of access also intensifies problems of verification, context loss, commercial pressure, algorithmic opacity, and declining trust. Contribution: The article develops a six-stage circular model of digital mass communication that connects production, platform formatting, algorithmic distribution, audience interpretation, recirculation, and data feedback. The model clarifies why contemporary mass communication should be analyzed as a negotiated system involving journalistic institutions, technology companies, content creators, and active audiences rather than as a one-way transmission process.
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