Revised Syllabus for TY BMM (Journalism) from June 2009

Semester V Subject: Reporting Paper I

Objectives:

Certain basic principles: Accuracy, Objectivity, Clarity and speed

The need to verify news. On the spot coverage, checking with the sources, double checking for controversial stories

Understanding New Values

Writing reports:

Organise material as per its importance, the most important aspects should come first

Use a simple style, short sentences and stick to facts without commenting on them

Talk to people, learn to use quotes effectively

Leads and its types:

A good lead is winning half the battle, the lead should convey the importance of the news item

The Five W’s and one H concept

Leads need not be stereotyped, different types of leads, even the most ordinary stories can come alive with a lively lead, but avoid gimmickry. Leads should clearly explain what the story is all about

Gathering news: On – the – spot principle, talking to different people who were eye witnesses to an incident, press conferences, the art of asking brief, pointed questions which can lead to newsy replies, handling press notes and rewriting them in journalistic style without missing the news aspect, the role of news agencies in providing news, unraveling and trying to make sense of cliché-laden government handouts, covering public meetings and retaining only the newsy sections of speeches

New news writing style; 1) Using more actual quotes 2) Begin with individual case and expand

generally

Beat Reporting and developing sources

Beats are best sources of news. Getting experience in beats through long tenures. The importance of sources, spotting, developing and retaining their confidences, regular presence at beats, group reporting and doing ‘exclusives’ without antagonizing group members and not go by the obvious and what people tell you, look for news behind news. The role of major beats, Government, Police, Political parties, Municipal Corporation, Health and Education, Environment and Law

Follow up Every story which has public appeal needs to be followed up Just reporting it once and giving it up are not enough Find out what happened to the issues in question and the people involved in it, even after the main story had been published.

News campaigns interpretative and Analytical Reporting

Investigative Reporting:

1. Explain investigative reporting using Watergate and Harshad Mehta as a case study

1. What makes a good investigative reporter? Tenacity, ability to spot news and carry it to its logical end, commitment to the best traditions in journalism (Patience, painstaking, hard work)

1. Brief history of investigative journalism, abroad and India. The hurdles facing Indian investigative journalism. Management attitude in regard to resources and man power, vested interests and political pressure, difficulties in getting confidential documents, element of secrecy and passing the buck mentality among bureaucracy and men in power How to get over these problems, sting operation?

Crisis reporting with specific reference to terrorist attacks

1. Investigative reporting and how it differs from yellow journalism

1. Role of investigative journalism in bringing about changes in the establishment. Limitations in India

1. White collar crime, cyber crime and need for technical knowledge, being computer savy

1. Investigations in the English and indigenous language pages.

Some major case studies in investigative journalism, should be explained in the class like,

Bofors scam

Tehelka Exposes

Cement scandal involving former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, A. R. Antulay

Cobblar Scam

J. J. Death cases

(Interview 5 awardees of Patrakar Sangh for best investigative stories or Analyse this award

winning stories)

1. Yamunabai Khadilkar investigative journalism award
2. Raikar Bose investigative journalism award

SEMESTER – V

Subject : Editing

Paper : II

Objectives:

• To allow improvement in language skills
• To impart skills required of a sub-editor

Syllabus:

1. Specific language inputs

• Usage tips
• Words and phrases to avoid
• Specific grammatical problems

2. Structure and functions of the editorial set-up of a newspaper

3. Functions of the sub-editor – Writing, editing, design

4. Editing

• Understanding the publication – it’s audience, ideology, raison d’etre
• Style book
• Editing symbols and how the computer has revolutionized editing
• Editing to fit available space – cutting or expanding copy to fill space
• Reorganising or restructuring a story
• Checking facts, names, figures
• Checking for grammatical and other language errors or problems
• Rewriting in style appropriate to publication
• Writing headlines – structure, working, types, use of typography, do’s and don’ts, role of punctuation in headings.
• Writing effective captions
• Intros and rewriting leads

5. Typography and design

• Principles of layout – balancing grey matter and white space, understanding fonts, balancing visuals and / or ads and editorial content
• Planning the page – deciding weightage of story, positioning for optimum effectiveness, balance in editorial content, preserving the format.
• Selecting visuals – image energy, lines of force, impact + information Ethical considerations when selecting visuals for crime/death/grief stories
• Cropping pictures
• Formulating effective graphics

6. Editing on the computer using:

• Photoshop
• Pagemaker
• Corel Draw
• Illustrator

Book List

1. Banerji, Sourin; New Editing in Theory and Practice; (1992)
2. Felsch: The Art of Readable Writing
3. Evans, Harold; Editing and Design; Heinemann
4. Moen, D.R; Newspaper Layout and Design; (1984); State University Press
5. Bowles and Borden; Creative Editing; 3^rd edition; Wadsworth
6. Quinn, Stephen; Digital Subediting and Design;

Semester – V

Paper III Feature and Opinion

Objectives: Commenting on differences between reporting and feature writhing, the special skills needed for feature / Opinion writing

Role of opinion writing the need for mature thinking and professional experience

Syllabus:

1 ‘Hard’ news, ‘soft’ news, definitions and differences. (2)

2 ‘Report’ and ‘features’ basic differences and roles in journalism. The News feature and (5)

how to develop it from a news report. Do all reports lead to news features? Uses of news

features, vital role in the city newspaper

3 The non-news feature: Seasonal, Institutional, nostalgia, city, Writing skills needed (5)

additional information, bits of colour, effective leads, creating images for the readers, the

role of human interest in feature writing, how to ‘dig’ for anecdotes and quotes, more

intense research than for a news report eye for off beat facts

4 Special types of features: The Interview form, different types (third person, qn-answer (5)

type) preparing for an interviews, getting information on the subject, supplementary

questions, attitude during an interview, special needs for a TV interview and differences

with print the importance of asking the right kind of questions Use of tape recorder

translation techniques

5 Obits a brief history, origin of the obit form, the superior form of obits in western (3)

media why our obits are always flattering and restricted mainly to politicians need to

diversify subjects and not too much of sugar coating

6 Reviews, mainly film, arts, dance, music, theatre, and books Qualities of a good critic (5) knowledge, passion, keen interest proper background, understanding of the audiences

and the role of commercial art in chasing away the blues special skills needed for reviews

7 Columns, their role in journalism, different types of columns, how they reflect public (5)

opinion, personal element in columns. Advisory columns and ethics involved in them,

role of celebrities in agony aunt columns

8 Trend stories, Life style journalism, focus on campus, youth style and layout New (3)

Journalism, growing importance of environmental features, the dangers of imitating the

West, strides in Business Journalism (briefly)

9 The Editorial page and op-ed page: History, evolvement, how much do editorials (5)

declined with managements calling the shots, qualities of a good editorial page editor,

The editorial page layout, any need for frequent changes? The ‘Middle’ and how it had

been shifted around

10 Editorial writing, special skills and analytical power (2)

11 Some famous editors in Indian journalism: S. Sadanand, R.K.Karanjia, M.J.Akbar, (3)

Kumar Ketkar, Talwalkar, Shekhar Gupta, Shyam Lal, Girilal Jain, N. Ram

Semester-V

Journalism and Public Opinion Paper IV

Objective: To examine critically the relationship between the media and public, how much does the media influence public opinion Which are the agencies manipulating this process of influencing public opinion

1. What is public opinion? Who constitutes the public? (2)

2. Which are the tools used to gauge public opinion? How reliable are they? (2)

3. Examining the process where the media is said to have a role in influencing (5)

public opinion? How far is this true? Examine the diversities in the media, the prejudices,

vested interests of the managements and how far they manipulate the media? How then,

can the public trust the opinions floated by the media

4. Same issues as discussed by opinion makers like Walter Lippman, Noam (5)

Chomsky and Lasarsfeld Their views on public opinion, role of military industrial

complex, big corporations and the Think Tanks set up by them, the right wing money

power and how they influenced public opinion in the Vietnam and Iraq wars

5. Agenda setting v/s Uses and Gratifications model (2)

6. The increased use of comment in reporting, the highly biased methods in the (5)

choice of news selection and their presentation through headlines and photographs

(illustrate these with examples from the Indian media). Provocative editorials and news

analysis during communal riots How all these influence public opinion

7. Political opinion as formed by the media (10)

The manner in which our media portrayed political parties, leaders and events how often

these opinions changed and why? The unhealthy closeness between journalists and

politicians leading to rewards like Rajya Sabha nominations etc

Election coverage, pre and post election, opinions of arm chair experts, the importance of

going on the field and doing on the spot coverage, influence of factors like caste, religion,

money and muscle power, the changing role of the Election Commission and the Chief

Election Commissioner starting from T. N. Seshan, role of opinion and exit polls

Media comments on important policy matter Indo-US Nuclear treaty, Reservation,

Annual Budgets Role of vested interests in writing for or against such policies

8 Role of media in times of war and how government tries to influence the media, (10)

embedded journalism, manipulating intelligence reports, wrong body counts, why does

some sections of the media succumb to these Case Studies

Vietnam and Iraq Wars, Bangladesh liberation, the conflict at Gaza, Terrorist vs Freedom

fighter controversy

9 Internal Conflicts and media reactions to these (5)

State terrorism, is media too much in sympathy with the views of human rights experts as

in Kashmir and Khalistan conflicts Secessionism, the demand for a greater Tamil Nadu,

the Tamil sympathies for the LTTE media approach to the Naxalite problem

Covering communal riots, ethnic problems, the temptations to take sides and how to avoid

them

10 Shaping Trends how does media react to changing times, a society more influenced (5)

by money power, obsession with celebrity trivia media portrayal of women in cinema,

TV serials

11 The CNN effect impact, does it still continue? Coverage of 2008 US presidential (4)

election and the coverage of Barack Obama and how it helped him to lead his rivals

INDIAN REGIONAL JOURNALISM

Objective

v Study the evolution, growth and role in modern-day India of Indian newspapers other than in English

v Case studies of Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Urdu newpapers

v Role of language papers in fostering socio – cultural development in their areas of circulation

v Study intimacy between readers and language newspapers

Syllabus

1. Overview of impact of important newspapers in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu and Kannada

1. Use of common facilities like news pool, personnel, inputs and managerial expertise in media groups.

1. History and development of newspaper in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada

1. How Indian language newspapers have shaped outlook and cultural identities. Renaissance in Bengal, Social reform in Maharashtra and Tamilnadu

1. Rise of ‘Hindi’ newspapers and their dominance in North India

1. The language press and local polities, including rise of communalism, regionalism, irrational beliefs.

1. Growth of regional newspapers like ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ ‘Dainik jagran’, ‘Malayala Manoram’, ‘Dina Thanthi’, ‘Anand Bazar Patrika’ and ‘Lokmat’

1. Tendency to hunt for higher profits at sacrifice of standards of journalism.

1. Political role of newspapers before and after Independence – ‘Kesari’, “Mathrubhummi’, ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’, ‘Eenadu,’ ‘Saamna’, ‘Tarun Bharat’

1. Role of editors in upholding standards of journalism e.g. Ramoji Rao, K.M.Mathew, Kumar Ketkar, Kundan Vyas etc.

1. Study the role of Editor- campaigners like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Acharya P.K.Atre, K.P.Kesava Menon, H.R. Mahajani Dharam Vir Bharati, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Abdul hamid Ansari etc.

1. Era of mass circulated regional newspapers. Necessary precautions against downslide of social commitment and objectivity.

BOOK LIST

Jeffrey, Robin: India’s Newspaper Revolution, Oup, 2000

Semester VI

Paper VI

Newspaper – Magazine making

Objectives: This paper shall introduce the students to the art of newspaper and magazine design and will orient them towards the practical aspects of newspaper – magazine making

Introduction to the theoretical aspects:

1. Graphic Communication – Past and Present (3)
Present

• Planning Stage
• Preparation Stage
• Production Stage

Past

• Improvements in Presses over the period of time
• Improvements in Typesetting
• Reproduction of Photographs

2. Why and how we read (2)

• Reading and Information
• Human Information Processing

3. Graphic Reproduction Processes and Presses (5)

• Fundamentals of Offset

• Prepress Operations
• Prepress Operations
• Special Requirements of Rotary Letterpress

• Fundamentals of Letterpress

• Fundamentals of Gravure
• Fundamentals of Screen Printing
• Fundamentals of Flexography
• Computerised Imaging Systems – Jet and Electrostatic Printing

4. Type and Typesetting (3)

• Typesetting Terminology
• Typeface Terminology
• Typeface Classification
• Type and Typesetting Measurements
• The Point
• The Pica
• The Em
• The Unit
• The Agate Line
• The Metric

Introduction to the practical aspects

5. Using Type Creatively (6)

• Visual Syntax
• The New Typography
• Placing emphasis
• The Layout
• Headline Size
• Initial Letters

6. Electronic Copy Processing Systems (2)

• Bits and Bytes
• Input/Output Devices
• Fonts and Font Sizes

5. Preparation for Printing (4)

• Pasteups
• Positives and Negatives
• Plates – types
• Graphics and half tone

7. Principles of Magazine Layout (6)

• Planning the Layout
• Preparing the Dummy
• Designing the Template
• Balance and Simplicity

8. Newspaper Design and Layout (12)

• Problems of Format
• Changes in Approach to Newspaper Design
• Contemporary / Modular Design
• Arrangement of Ads in Newspapers
• Preparing / Using the Stylesheet
• Effects of New Production Technology
• Preparing the Dummy
• Appearance and Character of the Newspaper

Internal Assessment : Individual Project

A Minimum of 10 to 15 hrs of Lectures should be devoted to discuss the newspaper design. 30 to 32 hrs to be dedicated for preparing the layouts, preparing dummies, visit various print houses and screen printing workshops.

Project Description- Individual Project

Students will prepare following types of news-formats using Quark Express as the main designing software and Adobe Photoshop as a supporting software.

Faculty shall guide the students on the content of the newspaper and magazine. Empahsis should be laid on the Design and Layout.

1. Four page Local Newspaper- A3 size- Tabloid
2. Four Page National Newspaper- Broadsheet
3. Thirty-two page Magazine- A4 size

There will be no written examination for this paper The student will be evaluated on the basis of the quality of newspaper/magazine prepared. With 50 marks evaluation to be done by the internal faculty and 50 marks allotted to viva which will be conducted by two external examiners (One faculty of the BMM Journalism department from any other college and second a professional from the news making field ). The viva shall contain questions on the newspaper/magazine prepared by the candidate.