IMPORTANCE OF DOING MASS COMMUNICATION
THIS ARTICLE WAS UPDATED ON 22/MAY/2020
One of the most popular degree courses that students choose to follow these days is Mass Communication, or as it is popularly known, Mass Comm. A mass communication course includes print and electronic media, radio, photography, advertisement, public relations, film making, and new media. Therefore, it is essential to study mass communication to obtain comprehensive and advanced education in the field and seek vast career opportunities.
Mass communication is an amazing course to indulge in. Only by its name, you can pretty much tell what’s the course all about. When you say mass, it means people and by communication you mean interaction.
The following course teaches you all those aspects that are related to interaction with various masses. You see, journalism, advertising, etc., are all those means by which one can provide information to a huge number of masses.
Mass communication is an overall detailed course that expands every segment, i.e., it will teach you all kinds of journalism, all kinds of advertising. From content writing to video making, it will cover all those aspects that can help one reach the masses. By this, the students studying this course gain a wide perspective about how many available fields are there and to which one they need to get in. Mass communication discusses every subject material in such a way that a student gets clear what is to be done and why it is to be done.
Basically, in other words, the course itself helps you to lead towards the right career choice. It will expand the vision for you and will make you realize the options you can choose from.
If the student has the willingness to learn and the drive to explore, then these are the key indications for the student to think seriously about taking up a career in mass communication and journalism. This article will talk about what precisely a mass comm. degree entails, why a student should consider doing his graduation in mass comm., and what value this degree will impart to his career.
Also read, https://smsvaranasi.com/what-is-journalism-how-to-become-a-journalist/
WHAT IS MASS COMMUNICATION?
According to Wikipedia, Mass Comm. means “the study of how people exchange information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time.” With the phenomenal and unprecedented explosion of communication technology and media globally, the study of mass communication has become essential and desirable. With technology playing an enormous role in our lives today, professions relating to mass communication increasingly need trained professionals who are quick and competent in their work. Careers in the various branches of mass communication are not only high paying but also provide the person with a great deal of job satisfaction and expression of creativity.
Mass communication courses comprise six core subjects. These include:
- Journalism
- Video Production
- Audio Production
- Advertising
- Event Management
- Public Relations
Each of the core subjects is an extensive field in itself, with each having master’s level courses in reputed universities both in Abroad and India. Journalism is further subdivided into Print Journalism and Electronic Journalism. In these courses, the student learns to report, write, and edit stories and news stories.
In audio and video production, most colleges impart theoretical knowledge and practical skills of handling equipment like video camera, still camera, editing software, and audio recording pieces of equipment. Mass communication adds some more depth to the student’s knowledge of the market.
As advertising is a popular core and is often taught as a part. Here, the students learn about marketing and how a typical ad agency functions and many practical things that may also include designing an ad campaign.
In the event management core, the student learns about the organization of corporate events and the typical tasks involving it.
As it is popularly known, public relations or P.R. helps students understand the various types of people a company is required to maintain a cordial relationship with. These include just not its consumers but also dealers, government, employees, and so on.
As such, mass communication is a specific course where the student gets to learn about various things. Unlike popular belief that Mass Communication is a course that helps students work in the media, mainly electronic media, this course is not just about the media. In effect studying mass communication entails knowing about all the aspects of communicating with the masses where the masses are many unknown to the student.
WHY SHOULD YOU DO MASS COMMUNICATION?
There are several reasons as to why a student should pursue a degree in Mass Communication. Some of them are listed below:
- There is no shortage of new possibilities
Probing for new stories and looking for any shred of truth in them, broadcasting these stories to a large number of people, including celebrities and politicians, developing new ideas and concepts for various organizations, designing logos, and coming up with catchy taglines for the different brand, gathering opinions on social issues and sharing them on pubic platforms, creating films, capturing meaningful photographs, creating slogans for products are all reasons why mass communication is one of the most exciting courses one can study. Any other course can hardly offer the candidate all of the opportunities mentioned above. Therefore, this is one of the biggest reasons why a student should pursue mass communication.
- Practical exposure and adventure
This course helps the student travel to a diverse range of places, allow him to explore the world from the new perspective of a journalist or filmmaker, and cover different events and stories. It also gives the student the freedom to use their creative skills to their full capacity. There is no particular way of working in this turf, which provides the student with the freedom to explore and shape their work style. Taking risks, coming up with exciting ideas, and influencing people are all integral parts of mass media. A course in mass communication helps the student develop abilities of critical thinking, problem-solving, conflict resolution, team building, and public speaking.
- Art and creativity
This course helps students develop thinking skills on their feet, solve dilemmas, resolve conflicts quickly, work in a team, and public speaking. It is no less than an art, from speaking persuasively to writing imaginatively, attracting the audience through attractive visuals, inquisitive taglines, tempting words, and eye-catchy designs, what makes this field an artist’s delight.
- Extensive business network
If you are doing mass communication, then you can quickly build great networking opportunities. You will be able to interact with your fellow students, college professors, and teaching staff relatively. This skill will help to expand your business with management capabilities accordingly.
Although, you can gain access to the extensive alumni network of mass communication. Your connections in the business world will give you an excellent overview of some experience. You will always be ready for the upcoming challenges in the business environment.
- Start your own company
Many students want to pursue mass communication to become entrepreneurs and learn about starting and growing a particular business. They have a dream to start it and want to know how to turn it into reality by achieving a specific goal. For that, you can also take some real-life experience from some MBA professors in starting a business.
You can also find some mass communication students who have similar interests in this field relatively. Share your business ideas with them and see if they help you. Because to start any startup, its success chances increase if you have a reliable partner who always supports you. After becoming an entrepreneur, you will learn how to communicate effectively in the business world relatively.
- Help in personality development
As we discussed in the above point that mass communication is not only to earn a degree, you also try to work on personality development. The degree mainly teaches you to make a confident, healthy person who can handle their teams and run a whole company specifically. Here, you are taught about how to become a team leader and a good team player. You also learn about becoming an excellent public speaker because you have to give many presentations during your mass communication program, which helps to sharpen your skills. After completing your degree, you feel many changes in your personality.
- Flexibility
For any business in the world, nothing is possible without planning. You have to be prepared to accept new challenges and this is one of the most critical soft skills essential in every mass communication student. When mass communication students make changes in the necessary adjustments while delivering top-quality results for any organization, they quickly meet the challenges that come in the business world fastly.
- Multiple career options
Studying communication can help students succeed professionally. Creating strong oral and written messages, working well with others, managing their image, researching, analyzing, and solving problems are critical abilities employers look for. As soon as you are sure about your key interest area in mass media, you can apply for internships in newspapers, magazines, F.M. channels, Production houses, P.R. firms, etc., and kick-start your career from there. Having multiple skills and vast knowledge could help you go further in this field.
IMPORTANCE OF DOING MASS COMMUNICATION
One of the most important reasons why a student should pursue Mass Communication is that it is such a course that will satisfy the soul of a creative person. The study of mass communication needs hard work, persistence, focus, and interest in creative endeavors. Once the student starts giving in their full efforts to study mass communication, he will feel like he is taking part in a very noble cause. This is because their thoughts and ideas will impact society positively and will even have the probable power of bringing a change.
A student should know the importance of studying mass communication right from the undergraduate level. A mass communication degree should ideally be taken up directly from the under-graduation level. Those media graduates who studied all the cores of mass communication at the under-graduation level are often better positioned to decide what their specialization will be. It could be filmmaking, journalism, and other such similar things. A comprehensive knowledge base helps one as a professional, too, since everything has links to each other. It is always good to know how an ad agency works, even if it is event management that the student is interested in. By the time the student graduates, he will have a fair idea of what interests him about mass communication.
It happens many times that the mass communication graduates switch lines by taking up something other than the core areas of it. An increasing number of students often choose to do an MBA degree in marketing. Therefore, a degree in mass communication is essential, especially for those students who choose to go into such fields like Management, building up their own business, teaching, and the likes. This course is about communication skills, which are very important in today’s world where soft skills play an essential role in career growth. All the students’ skills during their graduation or even post-graduation can help them communicate their way to success. In comparison to joint degrees, a mass communication degree often ends up making the student more professional and smart.
BEST COLLEGES FOR MASS COMMUNICATION
Some of the best colleges in India to pursue Mass Communication are listed as follows:
- Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi
- Xavier’s Institute of Communication (XIC), Mumbai
- Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai
- Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC), Pune
- AJ Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre (AJKMCRC), Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
- Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmadabad
- Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media (IIJNM), Bengaluru
- Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, BHU, Varanasi
- Department of Communication and Journalism, Pune
- Bharati Vidya Bhavan’s Sardar Patel College of Communication and Management, Delhi
Most of these colleges offer various certificate programs and regular postgraduate diploma programs like Reporting, Writing and Editing, Media, Law, and Society, M.A. in Mass Communication, Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Communications) – PGDM (C), Post Graduate Diploma in Print Journalism, Post Graduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism, Post Graduate Diploma in Online/ Multimedia Journalism, P.G. Diploma in Communication Skills, P.G. Diploma in Theatre Communication, English Journalism, Hindi Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising, Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, MBA in Media Management, MBA in Public Relations among many others.