Core Courses

REPORTING, WRITING & EDITING

This central course provides the foundation for the entire journalism education programme. Through practical work in the classroom and outside assignments, students learn to report speedily without sacrificing accuracy and to write concisely without compromising clarity.

TOOLS OF THE MODERN JOURNALIST

Technological transformation and other developments in society and the economy bring about profound changes in work practice, making new demands on the capabilities and equipment of contemporary journalists. Included in this course are segments on photojournalism, interviewing skills, the art of developing sources, computer-assisted reporting and research, new media resources, the use and abuse of statistics, and graphics, layout, and design.

Chief Justice A.P. Shah of Madras High Court

KEY ISSUES IN JOURNALISM

This intellectually demanding course comprises two types of lectures:

The first helps students understand different aspects of their future profession. Subjects include the role of journalists in society, the ethical decisions they are called upon to make, the value of media diversity and pluralism, the effects of concentration of media ownership, and the impact of technological change.

The second deals with substantive issues of current relevance. Distinguished journalists and academics address, among other questions, issues relating to the Indian Constitution and political system, India’s relations with its neighbours and the world, important aspects of international relations, and key challenges facing the country, such as the struggle between secularism and pluralism on the one hand and communalism and religious fundamentalism on the other. Non-Indian students are encouraged to apply this learning and these insights to their own societies.

MEDIA PERSPECTIVES

This course is designed to give young entrants into journalism a sense of the history and characteristics of the news media in India, and of their possible future development. It introduces students to the 200-year-old history of the Indian press as well as to the significantly different history of radio and television in India. The areas covered include the press and the independence movement, and movements for social reform and transformation; the growth of the print, broadcast, and new media and their relationship to the development of capitalism (up to the present era of globalisation); the impact of the Emergency and explicit and implicit forms of censorship operating on the news media; the explosive growth of television following the Direct Broadcast Satellite revolution; the impact of global media giants on news production and dissemination; the influence of the Internet and the new media on the context and practice of journalism; and the impact of convergence.

THE MEDIA, LAW AND SOCIETY

This course considers the whole range of laws that apply to the various media in India, focusing on their professional and social implications. Special attention is given to the freedoms guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution and to restrictions, both reasonable and unreasonable, on freedom of speech and expression. Students from abroad are encouraged to examine the difference between Indian laws and similar laws in their own countries. The course also serves to introduce students to courtroom and police station procedures.

COVERING DEPRIVATION

Read about this course here.