Blooming careers in media
A.D. RANGARAJAN
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Tirupati-based SPMVV, the only women’s university in the State, offers MCJ with special emphasis on women’s issues
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Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
Bright future: Students practise anchoring and shooting, while another team works on video editing system (background) at Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam’s Communication and Journalism Department in Tirupati.
The media industry is of late witnessing a sudden boom, what with vernacular newspapers and news channels all set for a soft launch in a few months and private FM channels planning to make a foray into second grade towns.
This has not only thrown light on the void in trained manpower supply in the industry, but on the positive side, has opened up multitude of opportunities for professional journalists, besides advertisement copywriters, corporate PR managers, comperes, news readers and radio jockeys.
For women seeking an exciting career in the media, Tirupati-based Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV), the only women’s university in the State, offers a Master’s programme in Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ) with a feminine touch.
This special emphasis on women’s issues has fetched it a rare track record of placing 95 p.c. of its students in reputed media organizations, especially in electronic and Internet media.
What is apparently working out in its favour is its field work-based academic programme, where the students are made to work in close tandem with the industry.
After the completion of the first year, the students are required to take a 15 day-internship in a print media establishment. Similarly, after the second year, six-week training in any media industry is a must, be it print, electronic, radio or Internet – depending on their specialisation.
It is at this stage that almost all the students get absorbed in the respective media houses where they take up internship.
The department has an enviable infrastructure in the form of a computer lab, developed at a cost of Rs.32.5 lakh sanctioned under UGC’s Special Assistance Programme (SAP).
This apart, digital video equipment, cameras and video editing system have been procured with Rs.10 lakh grant released under the Tenth plan. An audio-visual lab with excellent acoustics facility is in the making.
Apart from regular subjects like history of mass media, reporting and writing, newspaper editing and production, computer applications for mass media, International communication, communication research methods, media law and ethics, photo journalism, advertising and market research, new media technology, radio and television production, PR and corporate communication, science and technology communication, Travel and tourism communication etc. offered by other universities, this university offers a paper exclusively on ‘Women and Media’.
There is little surprise then that its alumni are handling women-oriented programmes/columns like ‘Sakhi’, ‘Naari Bheri’, ‘Navya’, ‘Vasundhara’, ‘Cheli’ etc. in the industry.
The syllabus is updated every two years to incorporate the latest trends.
“We have also conducted research on ‘Status of working women journalists in South India’ and ‘media (watching) habits of rural women’, says C.Vani, the head of the department.
As part of their dissertations, the students have produced video films on key issues like ‘Fishermen’s woes’, ‘AIDS prevention and awareness’, ‘Future of Kalamkari painting’ and ‘Arachethilo cellphone’, that have been aired by local channels. Apart from the regular 20 seats, five more seats are allotted for students from other States.
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