School of Journalism & Communication | Office Bearers

NUJ(I) SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM & COMMUNICATION

The Newspaper industry in India is currently passing through what may be described as growth explosion in the number and reach of newspapers and periodicals. For over a decade now, publication of newspapers and periodicals has had a steady growth rate of about 5 per cent annually. Circulation of newspapers and periodicals likewise has increased impressively maintaining an average annual growth of 11 per cent during this period. According to current estimates, the total number of newspaper and periodicals in 1996 stands at around 30,000 with a total circulation figure of approximately 1000 million. This opens up an ever-widening vista of opportunities to new entrants to the profession.

The electronic media, i.e., Radio and TV, remain government controlled. But a vast new area of opportunities for journalists has opened up for the production of software for Radio and TV, such as, documentaries, current affairs reportage, video news magazine etc. These opportunities have expanded further with loosening of government control and the radio and TV being placed under professionally managed corporation Prasar Bharati. Many private TV channels have come up. Since 1998 cyber journalism has become an important media.

The emerging media situation in the country, thus, is a challenging one and calls for new training facilities for the entrants and the upgradation of those already in the field. To say that the existing training facilities do not answer the growing needs is a truism. It is here that the NUJ(I), committed to improving the quality of journalism, has stepped in. Anticipating the emerging situation, it decided long back to establish a School of Journalism and Communication. The School will offer facilities for the training of new journalists but, more importantly devote a major part of its endeavor and resources to research and advanced orientation encompassing both the print and the electronic media. The NUJ(I) is confidant that the School will gradually develop into a full-fledged university with facilities for the publication of in-house journals, monographs and research papers and the production of audio and video cassettes.

The impressive growth of the Press in various national languages makes it obvious that the future belongs to what is currently called the language Press. The NUJ(I) School, therefore, will lay the stress on the training of journalists in the language Press and help them prepare, within its modest means, to undertake this onerous responsibility with knowledgeability, competence and dedication.

The School will lay equal emphasis on a series of research projects, in which it hopes to specialise in course of time. To begin with, it proposes to launch preparation of monographs on the origin and development of journalism in different Indian language groups. These will provide the trainees with handbooks that will not only give them a historical perspective to their work but also inculcate in them a sense of national pride.

Even though we are yet to have a permanent building, we have already launched a series of refresher courses, especially for the journalists in the language Press, on various aspects of the national scene with a view to equipping the reporter and sub-editorial staff with a deeper understanding of the socio-economic and political situation in the country. These include short term courses on budget reporting, crime reporting, corporate reporting, trade union development, appreciation courses in nuclear energy, Internet hand-on courses etc. A cyber journalism initiative was launched in July 1998 with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee flagging it off.

The School will be equipped with all the hardware and software needed for training purpose. Aware of its responsibilities and position in the sub-continent, the School will invite students not only from all the regions in India but also the neighboring countries, especially the SAARC countries.

The NUJ(I) School plans to buy of land in the institutional area of any one of the newly developed townships. Competent architects will be engaged to prepare the master plan and building designs of the complex.The critical issue is allotment of land. The School is managed by a Society, incorporated under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860) registration no :S/23212 of 1992. The School has been established in memory of the late Mr L Meenakshisundaram, a pioneer of the journalists’ trade union movement and one of the founding members of the NUJ(I).