<![CDATA[Tourism development depends not only on economic resources and institutional arrangements but also on how information circulates among governments, tourism organizations, businesses, workers, and local communities. Yet communication is often treated as a neutral process of transmitting development information, overlooking the network relations through which access, voice, and participation are differentially structured. This study examines how community communication networks shape access to information, participation, and emerging agency in tourism development in Berau, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Using a qualitative and interpretive approach, the study re-analyzes empirical material from interviews, observation, documentary sources, and online information through a communication-centered analytical framework. The analysis draws primarily on Castells’ concept of communication power and network society, complemented by Habermas’ theory of communicative action and perspectives from Development Communication and Communication for Social Change. The findings indicate that tourism-related information is frequently mediated through organizational and interpersonal networks, including tourism associations and local institutional relationships. Network connectivity facilitates information circulation, access to programs, and opportunities for participation, but these networks also create boundaries that may limit access for less-connected actors. The study therefore conceptualizes community networks as both infrastructures of inclusion and mechanisms of communicative exclusion. It argues that communication contributes to social change not automatically through information transmission, but through a contingent pathway from access to information toward voice, participation, and community agency.]]>
