Abstract Book of the 5th World Conference on Media and Communication
Year: 2025
DOI:
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Technological Transformations and the Reshaping of News Consumption Habits in Lebanon (MTV Lebanon Channel as a Model)
Dr. Sally Hammoud
ABSTRACT:
Rapid technological disruptions have contributed to the transformation of human behavior towards digitization. As most sectors have become digital, individuals and institutions are compelled to adopt digital transformation, consequently changing their consumption habits, including news consumption.
This is related to what researcher Marshall McLuhan called technological determinism. McLuhan’s theory of technological determinism is one of the most prominent theories explaining the impact of technology on the lives of individuals and societies. McLuhan emphasized that the media is not merely a channel for transmitting content, but rather a crucial factor in shaping perception, habits, and behaviors. In the context of news consumption, it can be observed that the development of digital technology and the emergence of the internet and social media have brought about a radical transformation in how the public consumes news. Instead of relying on printed newspapers or traditional television broadcasts, the public today receives news through digital platforms quickly and instantly, which has changed the nature of the relationship between sender and receiver. According to McLuhan, “the medium is the message,” which means that the digital form of news not only affects how information is transmitted but also reshapes how the public interacts with it. News has become concise, multi-sourced, and consumed selectively and individually. These changes confirm the deterministic role of technology in changing media habits, highlighting the importance of studying the technological impact to understand the dynamics of news consumption in the modern era.
This theory also aligns with the recycling model of communication process elements (sender, receiver, message, channel, noise, and feedback). In this digital age, technology has brought about radical changes in how news is consumed and how the public interacts with it. This model reflects the transformation by highlighting the role of the public as an active element in the production and distribution of news content, not just a passive consumer. With the emergence of social media and digital news platforms, the public is now recycling news by sharing it, reinterpreting it, or even criticizing it. These new habits, supported by the model, indicate that the public is not limited to receiving media messages but also participates in reshaping and directing them to another audience.
Furthermore, this transformation is linked to the use of artificial intelligence, which allows news platforms to accurately identify audience interests and provide customized content, which enhances the recycling cycle. Consequently, the pattern of news consumption changes to become more interactive, dynamic, and audience-centered, which forces media institutions to reconsider their strategies to ensure their survival at the heart of this renewed media system.
Over the past two decades, the world has witnessed radical transformations in the culture of news consumption due to technological, economic, and social changes. The Arab region has seen these factors amplified, accompanied by geopolitical changes in the news culture landscape of the region, which has produced modern models of news production and consumption platforms, especially in Lebanon. The development of digital media and social media platforms, coinciding with the outbreak of revolutions in the Arab world, has also led to a radical change in the ways news is disseminated, accessed, understood, and interacted with by the public.
A vital and fundamental factor has also emerged, influencing and being influenced by these media: artificial intelligence, which has created a new ecosystem in news production, management, and consumption.
This research discusses how these transformations are impacting news consumption in the Arab region, focusing on artificial intelligence, which has amplified the role of social media in this process, and how it is reshaping news culture in the Arab region. This research seeks to provide an in-depth understanding of the transformations in news consumption in the Arab region, focusing on social media and its embedded artificial intelligence tools, in addition to focusing on the role of the public as a key interactive element in the media process, through the application of the “recycling” model. The research will attempt to analyze the dynamic relationship between the public, media institutions, and social media.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Media, News Consumption, Social Media, Technological Determinism, Digital Transformation, Media Literacy