Deliberative policy ecology approach: media policy studies from South Asia

Media Policy Studies is under-theorized, even as it has grown as a distinct sub-field in the larger canvas of communication and media studies in the West. In South Asia, barring empirical studies that seek to delve into media policies, much headway has not been made into theorizing the field. In such a scenario, theoretical impetus to this growing sub-field is but warranted. This chapter seeks to present a theoretical framework to the study of media policy, called the Deliberative Policy Ecology (DPE) Approach, in an effort to address this gap. The approach draws on ideas of deliberation as praxes of communication in politics and policymaking in bringing about “voice parity”, and on the idea of ecology as a heuristic device. The DPE Approach is placed in dialogue with the cosmopolitan approach to media governance that the editors of this volume present, in order to understand commonalities and divergences. Importantly, the DPE Approach contributes to a possible Sustainable Media Governance, especially as a Southern and decolonial approach to its study and praxes.