Technological Determinism in Practice: A Case Study of Media Monitoring Tools in Government Public Relations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38035/dijemss.v7i4.6351Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Government Public Relations, Media monitoring, Strategic CommunicationAbstract
This study aims to explore how the use of media monitoring technology by the Public Relations (PR) department of the Ministry of State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia represents technological determinism in the context of government communication. The research approach used is descriptive qualitative with a constructivist paradigm, through case studies, observations, document studies, and in-depth interviews with senior public relations officers at the Ministry of State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia. The findings reveal that the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered media monitoring tools has significantly transformed PR workflows. AI technology facilitates accelerated issue monitoring, policy recommendation development, and enhanced strategic communication effectiveness. However, the validity of AI-generated data necessitates human interpretation and analysis to ensure accurate decision-making. This study asserts that technology is not merely an assistive tool but also a force that shapes organizational behavior. Within the framework of technological determinism, AI-driven media monitoring becomes an entity that contributes to shaping the direction of government communication systemically and structurally.
References
Al-Ghamdi, L. M. (2021). Towards adopting AI techniques for monitoring social media activities. Sustainable Engineering and Innovation, 3(1), 15-22. https://doi.org/10.37868/sei.v3i1.121
Al-Surmi, A., Bashiri, M., & Koliousis, I. (2021). AI based decision making: combining strategies to improve operational performance. International Journal of Production Research, 60(14), 4464–4486. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2021.1966540
Astuti, F. A. (2021). Pemanfaatan Teknologi Artificial Intelligence untuk Penguatan Kesehatan dan Pemulihan Ekonomi Nasional. Jurnal Sistem Cerdas, 4(1), 25-34. https://doi.org/10.37396/jsc.v4i1.124
Bhagwani, M. (2025, June 4). How AI-powered media monitoring tools are changing PR strategy in 2025 and what the future holds. Agility PR Solutions. https://www.agilitypr.com/pr-news/crisis-comms-media-monitoring/how-ai-powered-media-monitoring-tools-are-changing-pr-strategy-in-2025-and-what-the-future-holds/
Boussioux, L. (2025). AI in the Driver’s Seat? Research Examines Human-AI Decision-Making Dynamics. Foster School of Business. https://magazine.foster.uw.edu/ insights/ai-decision-making-leonard-boussioux/
Chandler, D. (1995). Technological or media determinism. Aberystwyth University. http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/tecdet/
Christensen, E., & Andersson, R. (2025). To hasten slowly: The prudence of slow AI implementation in public relations. Public Relations Review, 51(2), 102557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102557
Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research Design Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). California: SAGE Publication, Inc.
Deloitte. (2025). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future of Public Engagement. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/Industries/government-public/articles/ai-driven-innovation-in-public-engagement.html
Galloway, C., & Swiatek, L. (2018). Public relations and artificial intelligence: It’s not (just) about robots. Public Relations Review, 44(5), 734–740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.008
Ghosh, A., Meissner, P., & Keding, C. (2023). Impact of artificial intelligence on human loss in decision making. Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1-12. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-023-01787-8
Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management. (2025). Groundbreaking report on AI in PR and Communication management. https://www.globalalliancepr.org/news/2025/5/16/groundbreaking-report-on-ai-in-pr-and-communication-management
Gunawan, A.I., & Anisa, R. (2020). Kegiatan Media Monitoring Humas Pemerintah Kota Cimahi. Ekspresi dan Persepsi: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 3(2), 122-131. https://doi.org/10.33822/jep.v3i2.1758
Hancock, J. T., Naaman, M., & Levy, K. (2020). AI-Mediated Communication: Definition, Research Agenda, and Ethical Considerations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 25(1), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmz022
Héder, M. (2021). AI and the resurrection of technological determinism. Információs Társadalom, 21(2), 4–16.
Jan, A., Shakirullah, S., Naz, S., Khan, O., & Khan, A. (2020). Marshal Mcluhan’s Technological Determinism Theory In The Arena Of Social Media. Theoretical And Practical Research In Economic Fields, 11(2), 133-137. https://doi.org/10.14505/tpref.v11.2(22).07
Kline, R, R. (2015). Technological Determinism. Elsevier, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Volume 24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.85034-5
Lievrouw, L. A., & Livingstone, S. M. (2006). Handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs (Updated student ed.). SAGE Publications.
Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I., & Kelly, K. (2009). New media: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Mardhika, H. (2023). How the Introduction of AI (Media Monitoring) Tools Affects the Field of Public Relations. Jurnal Manajemen Bisnis, 10(2), 555–569. https://doi.org/10.33096/jmb.v10i2.624
McKie, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2017). Public relations. The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118955567.wbieoc171
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. McGraw-Hill.
Men, L.R., & Tsai, W.S. (2015). Infusing social media with humanity: Corporate character, public engagement, and relational outcomes. Public Relations Review, 41, 395-403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.02.005
Myers, C. (2025). Artificial Intelligence and public relations: legal, ethical and communication trends for 2025. International Public Relations Association. https://www.ipra.org/news/itle/itl-613-artificial-intelligence-and-public-relations-legal-ethical-and-communication-trends-for-2025/
Nanang Martono, & Rahma Isnania. (2023). Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif: Survei, Analisis Isi, Analisis Data Sekunder. Rajawali Pers.
Newport, C. (2020). When technology goes awry. Communications of the ACM, 63(5), 49–52. https://doi.org/10.1145/3391975
Oliveira, A. R. E. (2022). The Formation of Karl Marx’s Technological Thought. Advances in Historical Studies, 11, 251-262. https://doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2022.114019
Osei-Mensah, B., Asiamah, E. O, & Sackey, R. (2023). Strategic Communication and Artificial Intelligence: Reviewing Emerging Innovations and Future Directions. Archives of Business Research, 11(1). 85-102. https://doi.org/10.14738/abr.111.13616
Pamungkas, C. (2017). Global village dan Globalisasi dalam Konteks ke-Indonesiaan. Global Strategis, 9(2), 245–261. https://doi.org/10.20473/jgs.9.2.2015.245-261
Papageorgiou, T., & Michaelides, P. G. (2016). Joseph Schumpeter and Thorstein Veblen on technological determinism, individualism and institutions. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 23(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2013.792378
Perakakis, E., Mastorakis, G., & Kopanakis, I. (2019). Social Media Monitoring: An Innovative Intelligent Approach. Designs, 3(2), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/designs3020024
Pierson, J., Kerr, A., & Robinson, S. C. (2023). Governing artificial intelligence in the media and communications sector. Internet Policy Review, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.14763/2023.1.1683
Poria, S., Cambria, E., Bajpai, R., & Hussain, A. (2017). A review of affective computing: From unimodal analysis to multimodal fusion. Information Fusion, 37, 98–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inffus.2017.02.003
Skinner, T. (2025, January 8). AI and media intelligence in 2025: How real-time analytics is reshaping PR strategy. Fullintel. https://fullintel.com/blog/ai-and-media-intelligence-in-2025/
Wang, D., Yang, Q., Abdul, A., & Lim, B. Y. (2019). Designing Theory-Driven User-Centric Explainable AI. Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300831
Wuttke, A., Rauchfleisch, A., & Jungherr, A. (2025). Artificial intelligence in government: Why people feel they lose control. arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.01085. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.01085
Zhang, Y., Liao, Q. V., & Bellamy, R. K. E. (2020). Effect of Confidence and Explanation on Accuracy and Trust Calibration in AI-Assisted Decision Making. ACM Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.1145/3351095.3372852
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Inas Ulfa Hapsari, Novia Anggi, Irwansyah Irwansyah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish their manuscripts in this journal agree to the following conditions:
- The copyright on each article belongs to the author(s).
- The author acknowledges that the Dinasti International Journal of Education Management and Social Science (DIJEMSS) has the right to be the first to publish with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
- Authors can submit articles separately, arrange for the non-exclusive distribution of manuscripts that have been published in this journal into other versions (e.g., sent to the author's institutional repository, publication into books, etc.), by acknowledging that the manuscript has been published for the first time in the Dinasti International Journal of Education Management and Social Science (DIJEMSS).
