Author Information
Elmariestya Ardelia, University of Gadjah Mada, IndonesiaUtari Dewi, University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Abstract
Podcasts are an alternative digital media that complement the limitations of conventional radio and become the latest version of audio concept media, by offering flexibility, personalization, and interactivity. Podcasts aim to express the voices of marginalized communities that remain underrepresented in mainstream media. Among Indonesian audiences, YouTube has become the most favored platform for podcasts. The types of podcasts used by Indonesian creators are interview podcasts, solo podcasts, and multi-host podcasts. Interestingly, celebrities have also become podcast creators by constructing audience segments in discussions that prioritize political trends. Celebrities upload political podcasts on YouTube based on trending societal issues. Celebrities become media actors who pursue their interests as opinion leaders and agenda setters. This article aims to analyze the phenomenon of celebrities as media actors who dominate political podcasts in Indonesia. This research uses the structuration theory by Anthony Giddens (1984), which emphasizes duality, agency, and structure. Giddens's structuration theory helps us see the complexity of the interaction between podcast structure and celebrity as agents. The method used in this study is qualitative research with a descriptive approach. The results of the study indicate that celebrity dominance is the result of the structuration process. The political podcasts trend becomes output of social structure from celebrity behavior as agency, thereby becoming input for reproduction in creating the next homogeneous content. Thus, celebrities are producing virality, popularity, and entertainment content, hence strengthening the position of celebrities as dominant actors.
Paper Information
Conference: MediAsia2025Stream: Broadcast Media & Globalization
This paper is part of the MediAsia2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Ardelia E., & Dewi U. (2026) The Dominance of Celebrities as Media Actors in Indonesian Political Podcasts ISSN: 2186-5906 – The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 225-234) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5906.2025.18
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5906.2025.18
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