Respected members of the panel and my dear friends,

The most fascinating thing about journalism is that it is in a way so much a part of our daily life. Because, journalism is all about communication, and our daily life is also so much about communication. So, do we need to study something so routine?

Well, the answer is yes, as we have to look at communication in general, and journalism in particular, as transfer of information that can impact tremendously on the social, economic and political fabric of the society we live in.

As you may be aware, journalism as a subject of study is relatively a new concept in India. Some 15 years back when I did my post-graduation degree course in Mass Communication and Journalism, there were just a handful of institutes that offered degrees and a few others mainly press academies that gave diploma. And, employers did not specifically look for candidates with journalism degree.

Times have changed. And, changed pretty fast. If you look at history, one crucial point of transformation was the invention of the transistor some fifty years ago. Since then, we have seen this process of miniaturisation of not only hardware but of the world itself. Let me quote Freda Schwartz, a renowned academician, "If anything, our students need to be more literate than before, more proficient at deciphering, digesting, and interpreting text and more proficient at creating it."

Journalism today is very complex. Once it used to be identified only with the print medium; but now we also have the private television news channels and the Internet. Each has its own characteristics with regard to information dissemination. And each has influenced the other a great deal. Journalists not only report events, but also as opinion makers wield a lot of influence on policy matters. And, this fact alone underlines the importance of journalism as a serious subject of study.

This is a creative field. So, to what extent journalists can be trained? And, how well do they fit into the industry?

For a society to benefit from any discipline or profession, the two sides of theory and practice are imperative. Even though we are talking of a creative a field, there is scope for training. In fact, its relevance has only increased today with the proliferation of tools like the Internet resulting in 1) convergence of media, 2) high speed of communication and 3) widening reach of the message. Training is most beneficial to those who are passionate about the field, and are looking for opportunities to learn and maximise their creative skills. And, ultimately, they turn out to be among the best in the profession.

When we refer to someone being creative or a born-journalist, we are actually referring to her innate interest. It does not mean that she can't be trained. There is so much to learn about communication skills, research, organisation of facts, proper use of language, analysis, cognitive ability of readers, design of a page, printing, photography, and so on and so forth. Definitely, no one is born with a complete knowledge of all these.

If journalists can be trained, so what is the problem? The problem is the gap between theoretical concepts of journalism as taught in colleges and what is practised in the field. As someone sufficiently exposed to both, I do believe there is a gap. How do we bridge it? Like any social issue, there are no quick fix solutions for this either. But, four points can be considered:

1)      Attitude. Since journalism is a specialised field, which demands certain commitments from its practitioners, it must be made sure that students who take up the course are genuinely interested in the subject. With proliferation of institutes, it has become a fashion to do journalism, probably because of the glamour the TV has given it. With the result, we have half-interested students doing it and coming out of the course with half-baked ideas. It cannot be that, you didn't get any other course, so you do journalism. The worst of what I have seen is the feeling among some graduates that they are already Arun Shouries, especially when they have got a couple of by-lines. It is very dangerous because such students don't fit into the industry, become frustrated and become a liability to the society.

2)      Training. Once we have this group of committed students, the next challenge is the training, for which we need the right course material. Journalism is more of a sociological subject, the dimensions of which are constantly changing. This means constant review of the syllabus. The course material, while discussing theory, should also focus on the practical realities. Here a journalist will be of some help in formulating the syllabus.

3)      Concept. We have to get that right. And this is the hard part. Journalism is not about rushing to some place, meeting some one, getting a few quotes, writing the report and displaying it on the page. Learning and operating expensive tools of communication is one thing. More important is knowledge of the concepts while using these tools. This is where journalism schools have to play a great role.

4)      More training. Journalism education has to continue. It shouldn't stop with getting a job. The need for journalists to be perceptive to changes is all the more because they are also opinion makers. They decide how people should look at this world and its events. While we always talk of the need for academics to adapt to changing norms of practical journalism, it can work the other way too. Academicians, in the role of watchdogs, can help journalists in updating the paradigms.

I may elaborate a bit on the third point, that is, the concept. Journalism is much more than the mechanical processes of reporting and editing. Gilbert Ryle, professor of metaphysical philosophy at Oxford University, who has written about interpretation of words, says there is an intellectual process of identifying news, gathering it and analysing it. He says the journalist has to filter the decisions through an individual understanding of the audience to whom the writing is addressed, the priorities of the publisher, and their own beliefs about the role of journalism in a society.

In the book, Press and Foreign Policy, scholar Barnard Cohen identifies three roles of the press: observer, participant and catalyst. He says the world looks different to different people depending upon the map that is drawn for them by writers, editors and publishers. It is in the daily drawing and redrawing of the map that the actions of journalism are revealed.

It is very important for journalism schools to focus on this. Because journalists are constantly making decisions, decisions which mould public opinion. However innate be the interest, a journalist is better off trained in channelising and honing this skill of analysis.

Lynette Sheridan Burns of New Castle University in her book Understanding Journalism, says reflection is the bridge between journalism theory and professional practice. In teaching journalism, she lays stress on development of critical reflection skills, which provide a structure by which decision-making skills are learned along with writing and research skills. Reflection is the process, she says, by which journalists learn to recognise their own assumptions and understand their place in the wider social context.

Even while, we are convinced that a well-trained journalist is any day much better off than an untrained one, we must focus on the high quality of training that is required.

Another aspect of the concept, which I wish many people got right, is the way they look at this field itself. Journalism is about different types of people in a society, their different perceptions, priorities, aspirations, achievements and disappointments. And, journals are channels for the transfer of a variety of information that this pluralistic society needs.

Many tend to look at the whole world of journalism through just one media organisation. Usually, it is the newspaper they read, or the TV news channel they watch. When this news organisation has treated a piece of news in a particular way, with which the person disagrees, immediately he makes a sweeping statement about “the depths to which journalism has descended." What is forgotten is that the news organisation being referred to is only one among the many. And the priorities of that news organisation need not necessarily be the same as that of the critic. Here we have the danger of being too judgemental.

Remember, journalism is of many types: you have development journalism, science journalism, sports journalism, daily newspaper journalism, newsmagazine journalism and so on. The priority of each is different from the other and that determines the type and extent of coverage. Different newspapers look different, because they are meant to be different, even while conforming to certain basic parameters.

The students often tend to get a picture that is very ideal. Many things that are taught and learnt in the classroom just don't happen in the field. There are a lot of practical constraints that limit the reporting and editorial teams. One of them is time. Journalism is a time-bound job. The pressure of time has only increased. There is always a limit to the amount of information that can be gathered within a specified time.

Indian journalism, in spite of whatever flaws, is by and large mature and still evolving in a healthy way. Our newspapers, though volume-wise much smaller than foreign ones, cover in a reasonably good way events ranging from politics to spirituality, while not missing out on art and sports. I don't think anyone who regularly reads our newspapers can ever say she has missed out any current event.

We all, academicians and professionals, have a big challenge before us, because as I said times are changing; and changing very fast. The more number of journalism institutes we have today also points to the greater popularity and specialisation this field has acquired. I hope the association between the industry and institutes continues more vibrantly in a mutually beneficial manner. Let’s use the rapidly emerging technology to make journalism more meaningful to the people, in a way that makes this world a better place to live in.

Thank you.