Glam apart, journalism is hard work
Abantika Ghosh
[ Friday, June 09, 2006 12:02:54 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

NEW DELHI: So you thought your good looks make you an ideal journalistic material, and given the media boom, Delhi University's journalism and mass media programmes are where you belong! Think again.

Much as the placement graph has shot up, thanks to the boom, it has created its own misconceptions about the profession.

Teachers talk of the initial hurdle, with students coming in with visions of instant glory and dreams of being the "next big thing on television", — a perception far-removed from the hard work that a career in journalism
requires.

Says Alok Puranik, a faculty member of Maharaja Agrasen College, "It requires at least two sessions of brainwashing to make them realise that applying pancake and facing the arc-lights is a small part of the job.

We have even had students questioning the necessity of being taught core subjects like political science and economics because it is so 'unrelated' to the profession."

Admission to all the 10 colleges in the university that offer journalism or mass media programmes is through entrance examinations that largely test a candidate's general awareness, writing skills and powers of analysis.

Some follow it up by an interview. Of course, if you do not manage to get through any of them, the wide range of short term courses in media studies, film appreciation and journalism are a more certain bet...

...

Says Manaswini Yogi, coordinator bachelor of mass media and mass communication programme, Indraprastha College's poster programme, "We are the only college in DU with our own audio-visual laboratory and last year we launched a short-term course in media studies that received very good response.

The full course covers all aspects of radio, TV and print journalism, including reporting, editing, photography, production and media laws."

The journalism programme has less audio-visual inputs but after a revamp in 2000, some elements of broadcast journalism have been incorporated, along with topics like communication psychology, international relations and post-liberalisation economics. Internships, however, can be completed with both print and electronic media.

With the English journalism programmes hogging the limelight, the three colleges offering Hindi Patrakarita, tend to lose out — but not in terms of student turnout or placements. Their problem is of a different nature.

Says P C Patanjali, former principal, B R Ambedkar College, "Our programmes have a lot of girl students, but the tragedy is that because of their socio-cultural backgrounds, many are not allowed to work.

Parents balk at the prospect of working odd hours and despite counselling, the trend persists. Our problem is with an admission test, we cannot deny anybody who qualifies a chance to pursue the programme."

Future prospects, however, are not limited to media jobs alone. Says Amber Ahmad, former faculty member Lady Shri Ram College, "Many of our students go on to do post graduation in the field or in other areas like sociology, political science and philosophy."

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[ZESTMedia] Glam apart, journalism is hard work

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