Education

Roll, sound and a beautiful lady or an impressive gentleman appears on your television screen delivering the most important happening all around the world which is termed as ‘news’ in day to day life. Let’s see the other picture, a rough and tough guy is standing somewhere in the public area and reporting the current scenario with a perfect ease, giving answers to all the questions being asked fluently. The two scenarios appears so glamorous, appealing yet convincing that majority of students pursuing Mass Communication or wanting to pursue the career dream of becoming an Anchor or a Reporter. The truth is these are not the only things you can do after completing your career in Mass Communication and Journalism, rather there is a huge heap of diversions available. Moreover the road to the set target of becoming an anchor or a reporter involves tough struggle, pains and practice.

Generally the syllabus being taught in colleges doesn’t synchronize with the media industry. So if you think you have acted in dramatics, did radio shows or news items in the college will pave your path in electronic media, you are probably mistaken. Once you enter into a news channel, it’s a different world altogether. Please don’t be surprised if your senior asks you to forget whatever you have learnt in college and start with a fresh mind. There is a famous saying in media, there are always vacancies in media and there are no vacancies in media, this solely depends on your connections. But if you happen to be a risk taker, love surprises, and hate a monotonous life then nothing will suit you better than Electronic media. The zeal to achieve ambition and high spirit to withstand the work pressure can only be the survival points.

Electronic media offers a number of career options apart from reporter and anchor, like producer, editor, graphic designer, etc. Generally small news channels or the regional channels are the places where one can fetch internships easily and here you can learn all the basics. These internships are mostly unpaid and work allotted is popularly known as ‘desk work’. To be more specific, the job responsibilities involve production work in which the news sent by the reporter from the field is converted into the news piece which goes on air. The whole process involves huge work force and unimaginable hard work with no scope of mistakes. The person responsible is known as Producer, he has the responsibility of handling the news item, setting its priority, importance and treatment. The news bulletin which is presented to viewers is the combined effort of reporter, technical staff, anchor and most importantly the production team. A news piece has no value or interest quotient if it receives no treatment. So the important link is production team about which public and even the students of Journalism are unaware about.

Now if you are good enough the internship in small channels can be converted into the job, but with very low pay scales. The only rewarding point here is that you will get to do everything even if you are at a junior level. You could be making news stories, bulletins, special programs, you can be sent for reporting or if you are impressive enough, you can get a chance to be the face of the channel. To break into big media houses you have to be alert about the opportunities and up to date with the current affairs.

This may happen within a year or it may take years to be in an esteem channel. Once you are there, half the battle is won because your finances will be handled smoothly but the work atmosphere will be totally different. You will be allotted responsibilities, depending on the level of entry. Here opportunities falling in your bucket become rare, the struggle becomes tough, working becomes competitive. It might happen that if you love writing stories still you won’t get a chance to write a copy for days. The technicalities become very important. People who love reporting get chance after working on desk for years. You do get perks in electronic media but with time and patience.

To get set go in electronic media, you must have hunger for new story ideas, knowledge and running pen. If you love juggling through newspaper, magazines and books, love to jot down ideas on paper that people who find difficult to resist, then nobody can stop you from storming into this glamorous field.