Mediatization of Indonesian Islam: A Historical Examination of Media and Religious Change

This article analyzes the long-term relationship between Islam and media in Indonesia through the lens of mediatization. While most research on the mediatization of religion is grounded in Western secular contexts, this study examines how the process unfolds in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, whose religious life and cultural dynamics differ significantly from the Arab world. Using a historical approach, this study traces the evolution of Islamic media from the early twentieth century to the digital era, encompassing prints, broadcast programming, and social media platforms. The findings show that the interaction between Islam and media in Indonesia is a gradual, negotiated transformation shaped by political shifts, technological change, and evolving religious authority. Instead of producing secularization, successive media formats have enabled the continual rearticulation and popularization of Islamic values. New actors such as televangelists and digital preachers have emerged, challenging traditional authorities and prompting adaptations in religious practice to fit media formats and audience expectations. Although commercialization and algorithms sometimes result in a banalized expressions of religion, media developments also create new participatory spaces for religious engagement and personal piety. The study offers a non-Western model of mediatization grounded in Indonesia’s unique media and religious landscape.