Only 25% of mass communication students become journalists, even they are unstable

By Rajiv Shah

I have never studied in a journalism school, though I find that today only those who graduate (or post-graduate) in what is now termed as mass communication are taken as journalists in all top papers and other news outfits. In fact, there is no separate journalism course today.

So what are produced in what is called mass communication courses? "Journalism is just one subject out of many in the mass communication course", I was told by one of the senior teachers -- a professor -- in a private university at a workshop organised by Google News in Ahmedabad. So what does the course teach? And what kind of professionals does it produce?

This is what I learned: only 25% of the students are interested in going to journalism, while others would like to pursue their communication skills as public relations person, or work in advertising industry, or elsewhere where you require communication expertise. Surely, journalism is no more a lucrative choice.

And what are they taught? How to write and communicate in front of different media, perhaps without telling them why journalism is opposite to PR job, which requires you to sell a product or do what the corporate boss tells, while journalism requires you to tell people what the establishment does not want to reveal.

And what happens to a student who chooses to be a journalist? She or he, after joining a news outfit, often moves over to be a PR officer or even a receptionist! This happens because they are told and taught to be always on the side of the establishment, that news flows from the established alone!

Sad state of affairs!

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