Digital Mediation and Ethical Communication among Public Information Officers in Indonesia
Keywords:
Digital Mediation, Phenomenology, Public Information Dispute, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Communication Ethics, TransparencyAbstract
Public communication in digital governance represents a critical intersection between transparency, ethics, and human experience. Within this domain, digital mediation in public information dispute resolution has emerged as a new communicative phenomenon, requiring mediators to interpret meaning and maintain trust in technologically mediated contexts. However, previous studies have primarily emphasized procedural efficiency and institutional transparency, leaving unexplored how mediators experience and make sense of their communicative roles in the digital sphere. Accordingly, this study explicitly investigates two core research questions: (1) how mediators construct meaning in digital mediation processes, and (2) how ethical communication is negotiated within digitally mediated public dispute settings. This study addresses this gap by applying an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of mediators in the West Java Information Commission. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight participants and analyzed thematically to uncover essential patterns of meaning. The results reveal that digital mediation is experienced as a humanized process characterized by ethical reflexivity, virtual empathy, and interpretative negotiation of trust. Mediators described navigating emotional distance, balancing transparency with confidentiality, and redefining their professional identity within digital environments. These findings highlight that digital communication in governance is not merely technical but deeply experiential, emphasizing the relational and moral dimensions of public interaction. This study enriches our understanding of communication ethics and transparency in digital governance and provides a foundation for future research integrating phenomenological insights into policy and professional communication training.
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