Chapter 36: Journalism, Mass Media and Communication.

Introduction

At the beginning of the third millennium, it hardly needs any emphasis that journalism and mass media or simply the “press” plays a central role in modern society. Even in the early 18^th century, the press was recognised as a powerful entity. Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) wrote that the British statesman Edmund Burke (1729-97) called the reporters’ gallery in the British Parliament “a Fourth Estate more important by far” than the other three estates of Parliament – the peers, bishops, and commons. A Similar statement, however, is attributed to the English historian, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) who in his Essay On Hallam’s Constitutional History Published in Edinburgh Review (September 1828), observed with reference to the press gallery of the House of Commons, “The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm”.

And over time, newspapers, news magazines, radio, television, cable video, video Cassettes and movies have been demanding more and more of our attention and leisure time. The mass media now markedly affect our politics, our recreation, our education in general and profoundly our culture, our perception and our understanding of the world around us. However, Prof. (Herbert) Marshall Mcluhan (1911-1980), whose theories on mass communication caused widespread debate, argued that each major period of history is characterised, not by the mass media per se, but by the nature of the medium of communication (print or electronic) used most widely at the time.

In this Chapter will be discussed educational opportunities in four interrelated areas of studies, viz., Journalism and Mass Communication, Communication Studies, Public Relations, and Advertising. However, it would be in order to present first an overview of the media world, the role of the government, and to explain several terminologies.

Media Terminologies

First, a few words about the various terms used in this field because many such terms occur in admission advertisements. The term “journalism” often referred to as “news business” involves the gathering, processing, and delivery of important information relating to current affairs by the print media (news papers and new magazines), and electronic media (radio and TV). This integrated entity is also simply called “media”. News and entertainment are communicated in a number of different ways using different media. The world “media” is often used to refer to the communication of news, and in this context means the same as news media. Media and mass media are often used when discussing the power of modern communication.

If there is a term that has appeared in more diverse publications than any other over the last few years, it is “multimedia”. The number of definitions for it is as numerous as the number of companies that are involved in multimedia business. In essence, multimedia is the use or presentation of information in two or more forms. The combination of audio and video in film and television was probably the first multimedia application. It is the advent of the PC, with its ability to manipulate data from different sources and offer this directly to the consumers or subscribers that has sparked the current interest.

In the context of mass media and communication, multimedia is an effective tool for the profession. Still journalism, which has long history beginning almost with the invention of printing, continues to be the core concept of the entire process of communication. The newer communication technologies, in fact, have been strengthening the cause of journalism and newspapers, the latest to appear on the scene being the Internet. However, education in multimedia is mainly offered by private IT institutes (e.g., Arena Multimedia).

The Media World

The media world consists of a wide variety of agencies and organisations which are involved in media related activities. At its core are the mass media organisations per se and the users of mass media. The first category consists of (i) the print media (newspapers and magazines), (ii) the electronic media (radio and television channels), and (iii) the news agencies. The electronic media now includes the World Wide Web (WWW) which hosts Internet versions of most of the well-known newspapers and news magazines and is also emerging as a potential advertisement medium. In the second category are (i) the advertisers and advertising agencies, and (ii) the public relations agencies. Advertising provide the financial sustenance to the mass media and their survival depends upon advertisements. Public relation agencies interact with the mass media to put across their messages.

They also have their own mechanisms to reach their target audience groups. Besides, there are other institutions and organisations associated with media related activities. They include (1) audit agencies which vouch for the circulation figures of the print media; (2) agencies conducting readership surveys; (3) schools of journalism and mass communication; (4) statutory and non-statutory organisations dealing with regulatory and ethical issues; and (5) organisations representing various interest groups in the media world. Last but not the least, there are facilitators, such as the chain of distributors of the print media and the TV cable operators, who provide the vital link between the products of media organisations and their consumers.

Annexure 1 gives examples of several categories of such organisations. A brief account of two important organisations in the fifth category viz., the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and the Press Institute of India is given in Annexure 13 and 14 respectively.

However, apart from functional relationships among mass media, advertising, and public relations, from academic point of view what is necessary to appreciate is that at the heart of these three activities is the art and science of communication. The practitioners is these areas strive to communicate with their respective target audience groups, adopting the most effective communication strategies.

The term communication, however, has a much wider connotation encompassing many fields of studies, the major areas being sociology and psychology, linguistics (See Chapter 37), cybernetics and information theory, and the study of non-verbal communication. Sociology and psychology produced the first academic studies in mass communication during the 1930s. Thereafter, many scholars studied the effects of mass communication on individuals and society. As will be discussed later, the theory and process of communication indeed has profoundly influenced the study of journalism and mass communication.

Government of Mass Media

Governments and press are widely perceived as mutual adversaries. Freedom of the Press – the right of the press to report and to criticise the wrong doings of the powerful without retaliation or threat of retaliation – is the cornerstone of democracy. Freedom of the Press in the United States is more than a legal concept – almost a religious tenet. The First Amendment to the US Constitution states clearly and unequivocally that the “Congress Shall Make No Law. Abridging Freedom of Speech or of the Press”. The Indian Constitution does not have similar provision, but Art 19 (1) (a) protects the right to freedom of speech and expression subject to reasonable restrictions as mentioned in Art 19 (2) Though many governments vouch for protecting the freedom of the press, there are instances galore of throttling the press. There are several agencies in various countries which fight for the cause of press freedom (See Annexure 2). Be that as it may, governments themselves are also major users of mass media for putting across their messages.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which was set up during the Second World War to mobilise support for war efforts, is now a very large mass media organisation of the Government of India. It performs its tasks through a number of specialised media units and other organisation. One of its most important units, the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), is the primary multimedia advertising agency of the Central Government which uses about 6,240 newspapers for press advertisement. A brief account of the activities of the Ministry, is given in Annexure 3.

The Ministry, besides its own mass media activities performs several statutory functions, the most important of which is the registration of newspapers and periodicals. The Office of the Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI), commonly known as Press Registrar, was created in 1956 in accordance with the Section 19A of the Press and Registration of regulation of titles of newspapers and periodicals, followed by their registration and allocation of registration numbers.

It is also responsible for the verification of circulation claims, receiving Annual Statements of registered newspapers and periodicals, and compiling and publishing the annual report titled Press in India’ containing detailed information about the print media, a valuable media reference tool. Another important statutory quasi-judicial authority, under the umbrella of the Ministry, is the Press Council of India (PCI). The objectives of the PCI established under the Indian Press Council Act 1978, are to preserve the freedom of the press and to maintain and improvement of standards of newspapers and news agencies. A brief account of the PCI is given in Annexure 4.

The Ministry of Labour, on the other hand, is responsible for the operation of the provisions of two Acts relating to the employees of newspaper establishments: (1) The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955, and (2) The Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958. The first Act provides for the constitution of two separate Wage Boards for fixing or revising rates of wages of working journalists (including those working in news agencies) and non-journalist newspaper employees.

So far five Wage Boards had been set up (1956, 1963, 1975, 1985, and 1994). The fifth one (Manisana Wage Board) set up in 1994, has submitted its tentative proposals on December 12, 1999. Besides, there are a number of Acts which directly or indirectly affect the mass media. Annexure 5 gives a list of some important ones. In December, 1999, the Government has introduced in the Parliament the Freedom of Information Bill. When enacted, it is likely to have a far reaching favourable effect on mass media. So far five States viz., Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu also have enacted similar laws.

Journalism and Mass Communication

Journalism education in the narrow sense prepares students for careers in newspapers, news magazines, broadcast news, and news services. Now it encompasses a much wider area under the broad label “mass communication “. By what ever name it may be called, journalism and mass communication study is not a discipline in the sense that sociology, economics, political science or history is, but a rather loose interdisciplinary field covering a wide range of issues somehow related to public concerns. As such, the field reflects in general, the growth of mass communication itself.

Journalism Education in the USA

A brief account of the development of journalism education in the USA will be helpful in understanding the current trend in journalism and mass communication education in India. Journalism education which has a beginning in English Departments in America universities focussed more on techniques, such as, reporting, news writing, editing, design, photography. Often they were taught by former journalists. Willard G Bleyer, a professor of English in the University of Wisconsin may be called the father of journalism education. He was instrumental in introducing the first journalism course in the University in 1905 and his scholarly interests later greatly influenced the field.

However, the country’s first school of Journalism came into existence in 1908 at the University of Missouri. This was followed by the establishment of the Graduate School of Journalism in 1911 at the Columbia University backed with a $2 million gift from Joseph Pulitzer (1846-1911), publisher of the New York World, Pulitzer is also remembered for the Pulitzer Prizes, also funded by him, and annually awarded for excellence in journalism, letters and music. The School, still rated as one of the best journalism schools in the USA, is the publisher of the scholarly journal Columbia Journalism Review published since 1961. Now there are 427 colleges and universities which offer programmes in journalism and mass communication.

The focus on newspapers continued to dominate journalism education throughout the 1940s at leading Schools of Journalism in the USA. With the emergence of radio and television as major news and entertainment media, the journalism schools incorporated such topics as radio news, television news and broadcasting production techniques in their programmes. Even the Speech Departments, offshoots of English Departments, became involved in the preparation of students for careers in broadcasting. In some universities, the speech of communication arts department were merged with the journalism programmes.

Around the same time, more and more journalism schools started offering courses in advertising and public relations, giving rise to the term “mass communication” to describe this amalgam of courses on newspapers, radio, television, news magazines, and an increasing involvement with the study of communication itself. Communication study as an academic discipline has long been a part of social sciences in the American higher education. It involves the study of mass media and other social institutions devoted, among other, to persuasion, communication processes and their effects, audience studies, contents analysis, and interpersonal communication.

Wilbur Schramm, a leading scholar of communication studies, who taught at University of Iowa, Illinois and Stanford, is credited with popularising communication studies in journalism departments. Increasingly, graduate programmes became more concerned with communication theory while undergraduate courses stressed pre-professional training for careers in news media, advertising, and public relations. However, such emphasis on communication has its share of criticism too. It has been argued that communication and media studies hardly have anything to do with the practice of journalism.

The increased emphasis on communication theory at the expense of basic reporting and writing skill has also led to the scrapping of exclusive journalism courses in some universities. The shifting of focus from conventional journalism to communication is reflected in the rechristening the Schools and Departments of Journalism as School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Communication, or Schools of Communication. Some of the well-known schools, however, did not change their names. At Missouri and at Columbia they continue to be the School of Journalism and Graduate Department of Journalism, respectively.

Journalism Education in India

In India, the very notion of journalism education in universities was looked at with askance. A write-up published in the Times of India (November 27, 1934) shares the most commonly held view of the time that “journalists are born and not made”. It observed, “A faculty for criticism, a flair for essentials and a sense of news values can be developed by experience only if these qualities are innate from the beginning… The actual basis of journalism is its various departments can be only be acquired by direct contact and often bitter experience”. Almost all the famous journalists of yesteryears learnt journalism on the job starting as “cub” reporters. Even many of the celebrated editors and columnists did not undergo any formal training in journalism. The credit for making journalism as a subject of study goes to Dr. Annie Besant, the distinguished theosophist and freedom fighter. The course in the National University (Adyar) introduced by her, however, did not survive.

There were several other abortive attempts also. The oldest surviving Department of Journalism in the Indian sub-continent was established at Punjab University in Lahore (now in Pakisthan) in 1914. After partition, the Department continued to function at the New Delhi campus of the Indian part of the divided Punjab University till July 1962. At present, it offers a two-year integrated Master of Mass Communication (MMC) programme. From 1947 to 1954, there were only five university departments of journalism: (1) University of Madras (1947), (2) University of Calcutta (1950), (3) University of Mysore (1951), (4) Nagpur University (1952) and (5) Osmania University (1954), Both the First (1952-54) and the Second (1980-82) Press Commissions emphasised the need for expanding the scope of journalism education. The Second Press Commission recommended the establishment of a National Council for Journalism and Communication Research. It also highlighted the need for inter-disciplinary approach in journalism education and recommended that admission should be based on the performance in aptitude tests.

It was in 1963, that the Ford Foundation Mass Communication Study Team headed by Wilbur Schramm, who, as stated earlier greatly influenced journalism education in the USA, recommended the expansion of the scope of journalism education by broadening the curriculum to include mass communication, advertising, public relations and Radio and TV journalism, to fall in line with the American system. The Ford Foundation report set the trend of journalism and mass communication education in India. It also led to the establishment in 1965, of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication at New Delhi, by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which over a period, has introduced separate courses in these areas (See Annexure 6). In 1981, the University Grants Commission published the Report on the Status of Journalism and Communication Education in India, which recommended various measures for the strengthening the University Departments of Journalism and improvement in the quality of education. In another document, English Plan Perspective on Journalism/Communication Education in India published in 1990-91, the UGC unveiled a proposal for strengthening of selected universities departments.

With the broadening of curriculum to include the various dimensions of mass communication, the Indian Universities followed the examples of their US counterparts and started incorporating the terms “communication” and “mass communication” in their names. Many new Departments do not even include the term “journalism” in their names. The nomenclature of both the degrees, Bachelor of Journalism (BJ), and Master of Journalism (MJ), accordingly were changed by some universities to incorporate the terms “communication”, “mass communication”, such as, Bachelor of Communication and Journalism (BCJ), Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication (BJMC), Master of Communication and Journalism (MCJ), and Master of Journalism and Mass Communication (MJMC).

In some other universities the nomenclature of the Master’s degree courses in MA (Journalism), or MA (Communication and Journalism). Yet in some universities the term “Journalism” does not occur at all, for example, MA, MS or M.Sc (Communication, or Mass Communication), Master of Communication Studies (MCS), Master of Mass Communication (MMC), The choice of nomenclature often reflects the incorporation, in varying degrees, the components of the “journalism”, “mass communication” and “communication” in the course curricula.

In the programmes with such labels as “Journalism” or “Journalism and Mass Communication”, while topics such as communication theory and broadcast journalism (TV and Radio) are covered, the focus of graduate programmes is more on the basics of print journalism methods and techniques. In the latter category, apart from the preponderance of communication theory and process along with such issued as development communication, rural communication, educational communication, media research, the trust of many programmes is shifting towards TV and video production, web reporting and publishing, and Internet journalism. However, course contents vary from university to university. Advertising and public relations are covered in almost all the courses. The application of Information Technology (IT) of late is demanding more attention in many programmes.

Educational Opportunities

There has been now a proliferation of university courses in journalism in packages of different combinations of topics. The number of universities offering journalism and related courses now exceeds 75. A comprehensive list of universities offering courses at different levels in Journalism, Mass Communication and Communication Studies is given in Annexure 7 and 8. An exclusive journalism university, Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya, was established in Bhopal in 1990. The objective of the university is to develop itself into a national centre for teaching, training and research of journalism and mass communication through the medium of Hindi. It however, received considerable flak for its greater involvement in franchising out its BCA course to all and sundry throughout the country, rather then striving to achieve excellence in Hindi journalism. At present it offers nine journalism related courses. (See Annexure 9).

Several institutions outside the university system also offer these courses, which include, as stated, earlier, the Indian Institution of Mass Communication. Some of these institutions have been sponsored by newspaper establishments, such as, Eenadu School of Journalism, Times Journalism (Indian Express Group). Annexure 10 gives a list of some institutions. Some members of the Indian Newspaper Society took the initiative to promote the Press Foundation of India to provide opportunities for training and retraining of journalists.

It may be mentioned that the Film and Television Institute of India (FTTI) (Pune) is the first institution to introduce courses in TV Production. Besides FTTI, its counterpart in Calcutta, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, and several other institutions offer programmes in Television. This has been discussed in Chapter 45 (Performing Arts). The National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) has courses in the area of Communication Design which include Print Media, Audiovisuals and Video Film. (See Chapter 20 – Art and Design).

Levels of Education: Education in journalism and mass communication is offered at the first degree (three-year BA degree), postgraduate Bachelor’s degree (BJ/BCJ/BJMC, etc.,) Master’s degree (MJ/MCJ/MJMC, etc.,) and pre-doctoral and doctoral levels. Besides, some universities offer the subject as one of the combinations at the first degree levels. Three-year BA degree courses, open to candidates who have passed 10+2 examination, are available only in the affiliated colleges of University of Delhi and Bangalore University. There are also diploma and certificate courses in a number of universities. M.Phil and Doctoral programmes are also available in some universities.

The Bachelor’s degree course is of one year duration and open to degree holders in any discipline. Master’s degree, also of one year duration, is open to Bachelor’s degree holders in journalism. The MA course in the subject, which is of two-year duration, is open to Bachelor’s degree holders in any discipline. A number of universities have started introducing two year integrated programmes, instead of separate one year programmes leading successively to Bachelor and Master degrees. The diploma courses are of one-year duration and the entry requirement is mostly a degree in any discipline. The certificate courses are open to undergraduates.

Distance Learning Courses

About 18 universities offer journalism and mass communication courses at different levels through distance learning mode which include five open universities, viz., Indira Gandhi National Open University, Kota Open University, Karnataka State Open University, Nalanda Open University, and Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University. (See Annexure 11).

Specialised Courses

There are stray instances of journalism courses in specific areas e.g.,

1.  PG Diploma (one year) in Agriculture Journalism (Chaudhary Charan Singh Agricultural University),

2.  Certificate (trimester) in Fashion Communication and a short term programme in Fashion Journalism (National Institute of Fashion Technology),

3.  MA in Development Communication (Madurai Kamaraj University),

4.  M.Sc in Agricultural Communication and Extension (GB Pant university of Agriculture & Technology),

5.  PG Diploma in Electronic Journalism & Mass Communication (MJP Rohilkhand University),

6.  Diploma in TV/AIR (Guru Nanak Dev University),

7.  MA/M.Phil/Ph.D in Educational Communication, Distance Education, Subject Communication, M.Com (Subject Communication), and M.Sc (Subject Communication) (Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik-422005),

8.  PG Diploma in Radio and Television Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication).

Two other institutions, Asian College of Journalism and Indian Institute of Journalism and Mass Media focus on Radio, TV and Web journalism (See Annexure 10). The focus of the MJ course in Punjab Agricultural University is on agricultural journalism. In fact, the M.Sc and Ph.D courses in agricultural extension in agricultural universities include specialisation in mass communication for diffusion of agricultural information to farmers.

Language Journalism

Although, both in terms of the number and circulation, Indian language newspapers far outnumber those in English, only a small number of universities offer courses in language journalism. As of now, there are courses only in Hindi, Urdu and Telugu journalism. Two universities offer courses in Hindi journalism: (1) Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science of Higher Education for Women-MA in Hindi Journalism, (2) Banaras Hindu University-MA (Functional Hindi) in Journalism, and PG Diploma in Hindi Journalism of two-year duration (after MA). As stated earlier, the Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya was established to promote journalism and mass communication through the medium of Hindi. Indian Institute of Mass Communication has a postgraduate Diploma course in Hindi Journalism.

Urdu journalism is taught only in Jawaharlal Nehru University. It offers an Advance Diploma in Mass Media course with Urdu as one of the subjects. Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University and Eenadu School of Journalism offer Journalism courses in Telugu. While the former offer BJ and MJ programmes, the latter has introduced a Diploma course. The Eenadu Journalism School established by Eenadu, the largest circulated Telugu daily, deserves special mention. Eenadu is the first newspaper in the country to establish a school of journalism. It offers a Diploma course in Journalism of six months duration.

Candidates who successfully complete the course with merit would undergo further TV channels. Candidates are paid a fellowship of Rs.2,000 per month during the course and Rs.3,400 per month while undergoing advanced training. After successful completion of the advances training, candidates will be put on probation. Eligibility requirements are: (a) graduate degree, (b) proficiency in English and Telugu, (c) flair for writing in Telugu, (d) age not more than 25 years. Admissions are made on the basis of reporting and editing, and an orientation in political, economic, geographical, and legal aspects relevant to print and visual media.

Public Relations

Public Relations (PR), one of the newest management disciplines, means different things to different people. It is widely perceived as the profession of corporate image making, a “lobbying” mechanism or “fixing things”, and also as a face-saving device employed by organisations who find themselves in deep trouble. Yet others equated PR with publicity and propaganda. A PR professional once wryly described PR as “the art of making friends you don’t need”. Be that as it may, PR is a reality and is practised world over by organisations which have something to do with their publics. It has now attained the status of specialised profession of communication management.

However, the definitions of PR are legion. There are as many definitions as there are PR “gurus”. Dr R F Harlow, a PR practitioner, culled out 472 definitions from various sources. Analysing them, he put forward a sort of working definition thus: “Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication. Understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; help management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of effectively utilising change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication as its principle tools”.

The concept of PR as a distinct branch of communication is comparatively a recent one, though it is an ancient practice. Perhaps, it was the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (now AT & T) which coined the term “public relations” and used it in its annual report for 1908. It is the Second World War that brought about new opportunities to the PR work. The International Public Relations Association was formed in 1955 and simultaneously many countries including India established national professional for a. In India it was the Tatas which first set up a PR Department in 1942.

In a sense, in India the first PR exercise on a very large scale was undertaken by the Government of India with the creation of a new Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the 1940s. Its main function was to mobilise public opinion in favour of the war efforts in a situation where the Indian National Congress and national sentiment generally were against the war efforts. The professionalism in PR may be said to have emerged with the establishment in 1958 of the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI). It was not until 1968 when the first national level conference of PRSI which adopted Code of Ethics and defined the parameters of the PR profession that it earned a sort of professional respectability.

With 28 regional chapters, the PRSI is now a national organisation involved in promoting PR along ethical lines and develop human resources through seminars, conferences and training programmes. It also publishes a professional journal Public Relations’. As stated earlier PR has a symbiotic relationship with mass media and advertising. Though public relations, and advertising are different professions yet they are interdependent. Often, the two have similar goals, a shared audience and the same media vehicles. As such, PR practitioners need the same level of communication skills and the knowledge of communications techniques as that of journalism and advertising professionals.

Public Relations Departments, often known as Corporate Communication Departments, exist in major business and industrial organisations. All the government agencies at different levels, both at the Centre and the States, have PR Departments. The international organisations of the Un family and even large non-governmental organisations (NGOs) fell the need for PR units. Besides, there are a large number of PR organisations, often set up by the advertising agencies, which provide PR service to a large number organisations although some of them have their own PR outfits. There are also a large number of individual PR consultants.

Among the PR tools are press releases, press conferences, seminars, annual reports of the organisations, house magazines and newsletters, films, charitable donations, sponsorship of events (such as, sports and games, music recitals), community relations and last but not the least PR advertising, as distinct aimed at building a positive corporate image of an organisation in the context of its community on subjects of welfare or seeking to educate or inform the community on subjects of public interest, such as, road safety, immunisation; AIDS, family welfare.

Educational Opportunities

It has been mentioned earlier that PR is one of the essential components of almost all the courses in journalism and mass communication. The number of stand-alone courses in PR, however, is limited. Often the courses cover both PR and advertising. Most of the courses are at the diploma level offered by both universities and non-universities institutions. The courses generally cover such subjects as communication tools media of PR, media planning, editing and proof reading, advertising writing press releases, media production techniques. Annexure 12 gives a list of institutions which offer the courses at different levels.

Advertising

Way back in 1759, Samuel Johnson (1709-84) the English poet, critic and lexicographer observed “Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement” (The Idler No.40, 20 January 1759). Stephen Leacock (1869-1944), a Canadian humourist described advertising “as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it” (Garden of Folly (1924) – “The Perfect Salesman”). Leacock’s dig at advertising perhaps signifies its enormous power. Though many TV watchers curse advertisers and their advertising agencies for the number of commercial breaks to show advertisements in between TV programmes, consciously and often willingly or unwillingly, they listen to their message and more often than not succumb to the allurements. In fact, we now live in an “advertisement-laden” society. Advertisements stare at us from the pages of newspapers and glossy magazines, TV screen and the huge outdoor billboards, often illuminated ones in the night. We cannot escape online advertisements while surfing the Internet. And now advertising via wireless devices carrying messages to the cell phone is in the offing!

Advertisements, a Marketing Management function, has been defined by the American Marketing Association as “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goals or services by an identified sponsor”. In other words, advertisements involve purchasing time or space in such mass media as television, radio newspapers or magazines to explain, or to urge or to persuade the use or adoption of a product, service or an idea. The field of advertisement management is made up of a system of interacting organisations and institutions, all of which play a role in the advertising process.

At the core of the system are advertisers, the organisations that provide financial resources that support advertising. Advertisers are private and public sector organisations, that use mass media to achieve their respective organisational objectives. Increasingly, political parties are using advertising as a major tool for election campaign. The two other components of the system are: (i) advertising agencies, and (ii) the media that carry the advertisements. Another important adjunct of the advertising industry is the advertising models. Many celebrated women models went on to win laurels in beauty contests, both national and international, and made their marks in films. The expenditure incurred by advertisers provides the basis for estimates of the size of the burgeoning advertising industry.

According to the Eleventh A&M Agency Report prepared by the prestigious A&M magazines (15 September 2000), the total advertisement expenditure of 200 top spenders in 1998-99 was Rs.3,914.7 crore representing 2.3% of their sales. The top 200 spenders account for 90% of the total expenditure. However, the report is based on the data provided by advertising agencies and thus excludes expenditures incurred by small and private organisations which buy media space or time directly, the Central Governments and State Governments which release advertisements through the Directorate of Audio-Visual Publicity (DAVP), and Departments of Information and Public Relations, respectively.

Though the advertisers provide the nutrients, it is advertising agencies which are the backbone of the advertising industry and make things happen. The importance of advertising agencies has increased because the era of brand loyalty is almost a thing of the past. It is the agencies which now create brand images for new products and resurrect those of the fading ones. The agencies vary in size, organisation structure and services they offer. Large agencies have networks of branch offices in major cities.

According to the A&M Agency Report referred to above, during 1999-2000, of the top 89 agencies, the first 15 garnered more than 65% of the gross income. Advertisement agencies do the planning for their clients, create advertisements, and select the appropriate media for placing them. Advertisement planning involves market research. Most of the big agencies, therefore, have in-house market research facilities, e.g., Indian Market Research Bureau, (IMRB), a Division of the Hindustan Thompson Associate. Besides, there are also independent agencies, such as, MARG Marketing and Research Group, and Operations Research Group (ORG). The Advertisers’ Handbook (1999-2000), listed more than 690 accredited agencies.

Two of the oldest agencies are Hindustan Thompson Associates (1929) and Ogilvy & Mather (1928). Incidentally, David M Ogilvy (1911-1999), the most revered, albeit controversial, advertisement “guru” is the founder of Ogilvy & Mather. Besides, about 660 non-accredited agencies are also listed in it. As stated elsewhere, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) operates the system of accreditation of advertising agencies. One of the conditions for accreditation is that the agency should be completely independent without control or ownership of the media or clients. The INS also has framed conditions for accepting advertisements from accredited advertising agencies by INS member publications. The income of advertising agencies comes mostly from commissions received not from the clients but from the advertising media.

As stated earlier, the Directorate of Advertisement and Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the advertising agency of the Government of India. The Advertisement policy of the Government of India says that in “pursuance of broad social objectives of the Government and in order to achieve parity of rate between various categories of newspapers, appropriate weightage/consideration may be given to: (1) small and medium newspapers and journals, (2) specialised scientific and technical journals, (3) language newspapers and journals, and (4) newspapers and journals published especially in backward, remote, and border areas.” Many big advertisers and the print an electronic media have their own advertising departments which generally liaise with advertising agencies.

Advertising agencies have three different associations, to look after the business interest, viz., the Advertising Agencies Association of India (1948) (Mumbai), the National Council of Advertising Agencies (1967) (New Delhi), and the Indian Society of Advertisers (Mumbai). Besides, the Advertising Standards Council of India (1985) (Mumbai) comprising advertisers, advertising agencies, newspapers, magazines and others involved in advertising has prepared a Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising to create a sense of responsibility for its observance amongst advertisers, advertising agencies and others connected with the creation of advertising, and the media.

Educational Opportunities

Educational opportunities in advertising are very limited, although advertising along with relations arte included in the journalism and mass communication courses. Advertisement Management is also component of marketing management in management programmes. As the Annexure 12 shows, courses in the topic are mostly available at the diploma level and often combined with public relations. The programmes offered by the Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA) set up by Mudra Communications, the third largest advertisement agency, deserves mention.

It offers three programmes: (1) Postgraduate Programme in Communication, (2) Programme in Creating Advertising, and (3) Faculty Induction Programme. The postgraduate programme open to graduates, offers specialisation in Brand Stewardship and Account Management, Marketing Research, Direct Marketing, Corporate Communication, and Media Planning and Marketing. Admission is based on the CAT score. The second programme of three-month duration is offered in collaboration with the National Institute of Design. The specialisation offered copywriting and Art Direction.

Eligibility requirement is a Bachelor’s degree for the Art direction course. Computer literacy is an essential requirement. The third programme of two-year duration is aimed at developing teachers to be absorbed in MICA itself, Eligibility requirement is a Master’s degree with experience in research, teaching, marketing, journalism, media and advertising. The selected candidates are given a stipend of Rs.10,000 per month during the first year and Rs.12,000 per month in the second year.

Indian Newspaper Society (INS): INS brings out a comprehensive annual reference publication titled the INS Press Handbook (both print and CD version) which contains detailed particulars of member newspapers and magazines, accredited advertising agencies, important newspapers and media organisations, accredited press correspondents, etc.

Course on Online Journalism and Internet: Career Launcher, a Delhi-based preparatory education outfit had set up a journalism school called School of Contemporary Media to offer a programme on online journalism and web writing.

Career Opportunities

Journalism and Mass Communication: Career opportunities in journalism and mass communication exist in newspapers, news magazines, news agencies, TV Channels as well as in advertising and PR agencies. However, the bulk of journalists are employed in newspapers, news magazines and news agencies. Newspapers differ in language, size, circulation and as such the number and the category of staff vary widely. As stated earlier, the wage structure of journalists (rather working journalists) is governed by the recommendations of the Wage Boards for Working Journalists set up by the Ministry of Labour from time to time. The wage structure of various categories of working journalists is in turn determined by the size of the gross revenue of newspapers.

The Bachawar Wage Board (1984) classified the newspaper establishments into ten classes. At the top is Class IA with a gross revenue of Rs.100 crore followed by Class I (Rs.50 crore and above, but less than Rs.100 crore) and at the lowest level is the Class IX (less than Rs.25 lakh). The Manisana Wage Board (1994) reportedly has introduced a new classification with ten classes, introducing a new class IB at the top and merging Class IX with VIII. The Bachawat Wage Board grouped the working journalists into eight categories for newspaper establishments belonging to Class IA to VII. Annexure 14 gives the designations included in each category. However, the designations may vary. A perusal of such news magazines, as India Today, The Week, Outlook will give an idea about the positions obtaining in the increasing crop of news magazines.

Generally, fresh entrants to the profession being as sub-editors or junior reporters, often as trainees. Merely passing out of journalism school does not make one a good journalist. Four most important qualities of a prospective journalist are: (i) possession of what is called a “nose for news”, (ii) general acquaintance with socio-economic, and political environment; (iii) knowledge of authoritative sources of background information about issues handled; (iv) skills for gathering sifting and analysing information and present it as lucidly as possible. The last one needs command over the language of the newspaper and a flair for writing. In addition, computer literacy is a must in modern day journalism. All these skills can be developed only through hard painstaking work.

This is now the age of specialisation. More and more specialised features and supplements relating to science, technology, education, environment, women, fashion are now being added to newspapers. The number of news magazines in the areas of business and industry, finance, economics are also growing. A formal educational qualification in these subjects would go a long way for making a mark in specialised areas of the profession.

Whether electronic newspapers will be economically viable enough to replace the print media is still a matter of conjecture. However, the stunning possibility of Internet for journalism and the news business are somewhat obvious. The Internet multimedia information retrieval system on the WWW is on the verge of becoming a mass medium itself. The journalists of today and tomorrow must take note of the ongoing information revolution and prepare themselves for the future. The schools of Journalism in the country, therefore, should catch up with the revolutionary developments that are taking place in the field of information technology. Students should be taught how to navigate the www to get most out of the cast information resources now available online. Besides, they need to be exposed to some of the techniques involved in the creation of web pages, reporting and writing for electronic newspapers, cyber laws and ethics.

Public Relations: As has been states earlier, hardly there are any institution and organisations, which do not need PR professionals. However, job profiles differ from organisation to organisation. For new entrants. PR is a job that literally keeps them on their toes where only sheer hard work leads to a successful career. At this stage, they are often little more than errand boys doing different kinds of wok. This is particularly true in the PR units of an organisation. As they go up the career ladder they enter into specialised functional areas. It is in the large PR agencies that the job prospects are bright.

Advertising: Though the advertisers and advertising departments of mass media organisations offer opportunities in advertising, it is the advertising agencies which provides really challenging professionals responsibilities. The types of tasks in advertising agencies vary from department to department and as such each task needs different type of training requirement and skills.

A mid-size agency has typically four core departments, viz., client servicing, creative, media, and art production departments, besides other support services, such as, finance and accounts. The client servicing department provided the link between the agency and the client on the one hand, and with other departments in the agency, on the other. It is basically, a management function. Larger agencies, therefore, prefer persons with a management degree or advertising qualification.

The Creative Department, which actually creates the advertisement, is perceived as the most glamorous one in an advertising agency. It engages two types of people-visualisers and copywriters. Visualisers are artists who are responsible for the layout and visual aspects of the advertisement. Copywriters, on the other hand, prepare the copy, i.e., the written part of the advertisement or scripts for TV commercials. A visualiser should have a formal qualification in art or design. (See Chapter 20 – Art and Design). With increasing use of computers in designing work, familiarity with its use is a desirable requirement.

A short-term course in multimedia designing would help in the profession. Though for copywriters, no specific formal qualification is necessary, they should have a good command over the language used for the copy, and have the ability to get across the message most effectively. By and large, the copy is written in English and thereafter translated into the language of the medium. Proficiency in English and a regional language (mother tongue) is the desirable requirement.

The media Department is responsible for media planning and buying space or time. Media planning largely involves market research about, among others, media habit and preferences of consumers. A formal management qualification majoring in marketing is a desirable entry qualification. And finally, the Art Production Department is responsible for giving physical shape to the concept created by the Creative Department in the form of final product to be passed on to the client for publication. The staff of the Department includes commercial artists.