One Degree Multiple Avenues in Journalism and Mass Communication
By Dr. Sushil Rai
Know here all about scope of Journalism & Mass Communication degree including courses available, career opportunities and more.
“There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe... the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.” -Mark Twain
The truth in Mark Twain’s words stands the test of time and today can be genarilzed to include all forms of media and not the Print medium alone. Be it in troubled times like these when the world community is confronted with the corona virus pandemic or in times of peace, the media work tirelessly to deliver information and entertainment from different parts of the globe to us.
Communication is the base of the society, without communication we can’t imagine the development of the society. When someone tries of communicate with the masses with the help of different communication media it is called mass communication. It is an important part of our day to day life. Through news people try to know about the world and processes involved in collecting, selecting, editing and printing or broadcasting, posting, podcasting the news is called journalism. We can say that mass communication and journalism is the basic need of society. This article explains why a degree in journalism & mass communication is different from other degrees? It is possible to have multiple career options by only doing a single degree in Journalism & Mass communication.
The field of mass communication & Journalism is changing rapidly with the explosion in communication technology. So the study of this stream and its choice as a career option opens several avenues of employment.
Why Journalism & Mass Communication?
A degree in Journalism and Mass Communication will allow you to analyze the various forms of mass media such print, electronic, new media, films, animation, photography etc. This degree will train you to work in an everyday evolving field. A degree in Journalism and Mass Communication is an interdisciplinary course of study and it opens the doors of multiple careers, from print to new media. In this course you will examine how different media work and affect the audience or our society and culture. In this degree you will study about the Media history, Media laws, Print, Television, Radio, New Media Journalism as well as Film, Animation, Political Communication, Data Journalism, research methods both theoretically and practically.
Is it a right choice?
The field is not limited to journalistic work alone but covers all aspects of our life. So a career in mass communication will enable you to express your imagination and creativity. Ingenuity, communication skills, writing skills, communication to masses, editing skills and patience with hard work are some of the prerequisites for making a careerin this field. A degree in Journalism and mass communication will train you in all these skills.
What it costs?
A degree in mass communication is a bit costly than other traditional degrees because the infrastructural set up for this degree requires considerable investment, high end latest equipments and well trained faculties. Most universities in India charge from 35000 to 120000 per semester for graduate and post graduate courses in this discipline. For other more technical courses like animation and filmmaking the costs are higher.
Career Prospects for Journalism & Mass Communication
Job opportunities are rapidly increasing in the field of mass communication. As we have several news channels in India and the growth of media at regional level has also spurred on in the recent years, the pool of job opportunities is now much larger. Growth of new media platforms is also noticeable in the aspect many job opportunities are knocking the doors here. We are the largest producers of films, biggest print media industry & advertisement industry and now we are leading the event management too. A technically trained media person can choose fro a range of career options available after the successful completion of the degree in this stream. Some of these roles are:
- Reporter/Journalist
- Copy Editor
- Editor
- Photographer
- Graphic Designer
- News Anchor
- Director
- Producer
- News Editor
- Cameraman
- Screen Writer
- Sound Editor
- Video Editor
- Voice Over Artist
- Radio Jockey
- Video Jockey
- Event Manager
- Public Relation officer
- Corporate Communication officer
- Brand Manager
- Art Director
- Ad Designer
- Media Planner
- New Media Journalist
- Data Journalist
- Actor
- Social Media Manager
Top Companies for Journalism & Mass Communication
- Times Group
- Zee TV Network
- NDTV
- India TV
- ETV Network
- Network 18
- ABP
- Viacom18
- Hindustan Times Group
- Dainik Jagran
- Amar Ujala
- Film companies like Big Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment etc.
Pay Package offered for Journalism & Mass Communication
The package in this field depends on your skills acquired during the degree. The candidates from IIMC, IMS Unison University, MCRC Jamia and many other good institutions receive good placement offers ranging from 300000 to 600000 per annum which shoot upto more than 100000 per month after gaining experience in the field.
Courses in Journalism & Mass Communication
- BA (J&MC): Bachelors in Journalism & Mass Communication
- MA (J&MC): Master in Journalism & Mass Communication
- PGD (JMC): Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism & Mass Communication
- MPhil (JMC): Master of Philosophy in Journalism & Mass Communication
- PhD (J&MC): Doctorate of Philosophy in Journalism & Mass Communication
- Certificates in Photography, Anchoring and radio jockeying
- Diploma in Multimedia, film making, Animation, Graphic Designing and Data Journalism
Dr. Sushil Rai is currently the Head, School of Mass Communication, IMS Unison University, Dehradun. Dr Rai is an alumnus of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, UP. He has over 15 years of teaching and industry experience. He has presented papers in 30 National and International Seminars/Conferences, and has attended more than 10 Workshops/ FDPs. He has over 20 research papers to his credit in National and International Journals of repute, authored one Book, 10 Chapters in Books and over 40 Articles in newspapers and magazines. He has also been conferred with Best Research Excellence Award- 2018 and Innovation Fellow Award-2019. |
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