Islamic Journalism and Indonesian Journalist Competence: A Literature Review

Abstract

This literature review systematically analyzes how Islamic journalism principles contribute to journalist competence in Indonesia. Adopting a narrative review design appropriate for an emergent field with contested definitions and scattered empirical studies, the study synthesizes academic literature published between 2010 and 2026, the study identifies three key dimensions of competence reinforced by the Islamic journalism framework: ethical-moral, professional-technical, and socio-cultural. The analysis reveals that prophetic values—shiddiq, amanah, tabligh, and fathanah—serve as an ethical foundation that strengthens, rather than replaces, professional journalistic standards, creating a dual accountability mechanism: professional and religious. This contribution manifests at three levels: internalization of values at the individual level, institutionalization of accountability mechanisms at the organizational level, and formation of a collective professional identity at the socio-cultural level. The study also finds that the integration of Islamic values into Indonesian journalistic practices is influenced by institutional and sociocultural factors. However, existing literature remains dominated by normative-descriptive approaches and has not sufficiently explored the causal mechanisms linking the internalization of Islamic values to measurable improvements in competence; it is also largely limited to Islamic-oriented media, with insufficient exploration of its relevance to mainstream media. Theoretically, this study proposes Islamic journalism as a form of institutionalized virtue ethics requiring organizational intervention. It recommends an empirical research agenda focused on quantitatively measuring the relationship between the internalization of Islamic values and journalist competence, evaluating the effectiveness of Islamic journalism education and training programs, and exploring the application of these values within mainstream media contexts.