Journalism: A career offering exciting work & intellectual growth

Have you just completed your higher secondary and wondering about which course to opt for next? Are you still not sure what do you want to be in your career? If these are true for you then here are a few more questions for you. Do you take interest in the things happening around you and the world? Do you also discuss about them with your peer groups or write about them? Do you think information empowers us and we should keep making efforts to get the relevant and authentic information all the time to understand our world better? If your answers to these questions are ‘yes’, then there is a great career that awaits you ahead - Journalism.  This article will expose you to very exciting career options in the field of journalism that you can go for after your higher secondary. It is a career option that has become one of the most popular choices among school graduates in the last few years. And it is rightly so because journalism as a career not only brings them name, fame and money but also helps them in growing intellectually. It provides them an opportunity to meet important persons on a daily basis and travel around the world as they work.

Yes. And if you think you love reading and watching stuff and writing and talking about them bring you fun then, you are bound to succeed in your career as a journalist. In the last one decade or so, there has been a boom in the field of journalism and mass communication with hundreds of television news channels coming into emergence and the number of newspaper editions continuously rising. In addition to these, there has been a tremendous surge in the number of online news portals thanks to the information and communication revolution that has penetrated the internet, computers and smart-phones even in the remote areas of the country. While the television and newspaper industry continue witness excellent growth in India today, the rise of new media is has opened additional avenues for those willing to make career in the media industry. Studies indicate that the media and entertainment industry would require around 1.5 lakh trained individuals every year for the next few years with the kind of growth it is experiencing.

Digital media: Bringing new career avenues to the youngsters

According to a 2019 report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the media and entertainment industry in India is growing by around 14 per cent while the digital media and entertainment industry is also growing by 13.3 per cent. This rapid expansion in the new media or digital media sector has resulted in all the major media houses in country both in electronic and print start their digital venture that has emerged as one of major employment generation sector in the media industry. Even the international media venture like BBC has set up its digital journalism units in various Indian languages besides Hindi and English absorbing fresh journalism graduates from various parts of the country as digital journalists.

The growth in the digital journalism sector is such that all the major media conglomerates like Times group, Hindustan Times, Network18 Group, ETV Bharat, ABP News, NDTV, India TV, Zee Media Group and others are always looking for young journalists possessing the required skills and qualifications. And this is true for major Hindi national and regional newspapers’ groups too like Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, Dainik Hindustan, Patrika and many more. They have also started their digital ventures which not only publish news contents in text form on their website but have also started creating video stories and publishing them on their websites as well as their social media pages. According to an Economic Times report in 2017, media and entertainment industry in India will create 8 lakh job opportunities by 2022. The report stated that the rise of the digital media platforms has created tremendous job opportunities for the creative jobseekers in the country like never before.

Owing to the rise of the digital communication platforms, most of the journalism institutes offering courses in journalism and communication are also designing their courses in such a way that they not only teach their students the skill sets for the conventional communication mediums like television, radio and newspapers but also train them on the new skills required for the digital media platforms that offer fascinating employment and growth opportunities for the creative minds in their career.    

Career options as Journalists

Once you graduate in a journalism course, there would be a variety of job opportunities waiting for you to be grabbed depending upon your interest and skills. The major three areas of employment that could be broadly categorized are: electronic media (television and radio), print media (newspapers and magazines) and digital media (online web news portals, YouTube channels, mobile TV etc.). While getting into them may depend upon your interest, skills and immediate opportunity being provided as you graduate, all of them have a wide range of job profiles differing in nature. Your primary job is to make sure you are able to gather, process and package newsworthy information to be disseminated to the public for informing, educating and entertaining them no matter which role you are chosen for.

Later as you go along you always have an option to work as a journalist or communication professional in the field that excites you the most. For example, you can choose to become a sports journalist, business journalist, entertainment journalist, lifestyle and travel journalist, political analyst or commentator, science journalist, data journalist, photo journalist (if photography is your passion) film reporter and many more while working for any organisation whether in electronic, print or digital journalism sector. And these are all high-paying jobs if you specialize in one of these areas.

Therefore, if you are looking for a career that requires creative engagement with the work on a daily basis and doing something new every day, journalism is the field to opt for. If you want a career that helps you grow intellectually in life and earn good money at the same time, you must give it a shot.      

About the author:

Professor Ram Yadav is Assistant Professor at Jagran School of Journalism and Communication, Jagran Lakecity University - JLU.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha