Is journalism in your dna

Is journalism in your dna

Dr K Stevenson former Head, Department of Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad. He has been in the academic field for nearly two decades after working as a journalist for three years.

JOURNALISTS are integral to maintain the symbiotic relationship between the media and society in the fast changing world. Journalists are hot property these days, says Dr K Stevenson, former head, Department of Journalism, Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Unlike any other field, journalism presents lot of avenues for the individual apart from the mainstream media. Right from testing waters as public relations personnel to being a content writer in the advertising arena, there are a plethora of lucrative opportunities for journalists. Stevenson says it is not just in the above mentioned fields, “One can even get into the Indian Information Services of the Central government where the job profile includes field publicity for different projects.

Skills needed

• A “nose for news” – the oft-repeated phrase is a decisive factor in making a good journalistic career
• Good writing skills are a pre-requisite
• Being techno-savvy and understanding the evolving technologies especially in production related issues
• Right mindset with a positive attitude towards events and happening are integral traits in an aspiring journalist
• A passion for meeting people from different walks of life, nurturing long term relations and the knack of sustaining good contacts are added advantages.

  Stevenson says that even though the field may seem glamorous to the outside world, it is really hard work. Interacting with famous personalities and top politicians does sound exciting, but a lot of effort and hard work are required to reach a distinguished level.

  Many journalists do not have a formal training or academic background in the subject when they enter the field. But a journalism qualification will definitely help candidates. Without one, there will be initial difficulties in understanding the job.

  Trials and tribulations are part of the profession and many enthusiastic youngsters lose interest after a few months on the job. One should be prepared to face situations where a good story might not be given the proper display; attempts to do justice to the work may not be fruitful. And you can forget about the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. factor at the work place.

  (Courtesy: The New Indian Express)

BCJ Entrance Test material 2009, Osmania University

BCJ Entrance Test material 2009, Osmania University

This material is prepared by BCJ Entrance test (Osmania University) Topper

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.

Benjamin Franklin

Osmania University BCJ 2009 entrance test syllabus: -

BCJ (Bachelor of Communication & Journalism) Part A (40 marks) Comprehension of a passage (15 marks) Language skills (25 marks) (sentence construction, spellings, antonyms and synonyms, logic and reasoning) Part B (60 marks) Media awarenewss (20 marks) current affairs (20 marks) General awareness ( 10 marks) words frequently used in media (10 marks) Current Affairs Plus Attitude Skill Knowledge According to the UNICEF report ‘State of the world’s children’ released on January 17, 2009, what is India’s percentage of child marriages of the world? 40 per cent Central Excise Day – Feb 24 Lal Bahadur Sastri National awad for Excellence in Public administration,academics and management award 2008 was presented to- E Sridharan (MD, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) Who is the editor of Siasat urdu daily? Zahid Ali Khan Times of India editor for Hyderabad market? Kingshuk Nag Current affairs plus 1. India’s largest news agency – PTI (Press Trust of India) 2. Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) – Pune 3. The highest contributor to central exchequer – corporate tax 4. Compulsory AIDS test before marriage introduced by Goa state 5. First banking district in the country – Ernakulam 6. RK Raghavan Committee was appointed by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry to look into the issue of ragging and suggest means for its prevention in educational institutions. 7. Tenth schedule: The Tenth Schedule provides for the disqualification of people’s representative on the ground of defection. 8. The Ninth Schedule in the constitution was originally enacted in 1950 in order to place beyond challenge certain laws, particularly those relating to agrarian reforms. 9. Durand line is between India and Afghanistan 10. National cricket academy is in Bangalore 11. First country to introduce grading for public issues – India 12. How many countries are there in NSG(Nuclear Suppliers Group) – 45 13. Sameera Salim: first woman from Pakistan planning to go to space travel 14. Budget deficit means the receipts minus total expenditure on both revenue and capital account The most solid stone in the structure is the lowest one in the foundation. KHALIL GIBRAN 15. Liberhan Commission – Babri masjid demolition 16. Which state has highest number of borders in India – Asom 17. Paul Krugman – New York Times columnist 18. The Week is published from Kochi. 19. OUTLOOK weekly is published from New Delhi 20. A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically-like what’s new page or a journal. Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. MARK TWAIN Preparation Plan: broad areas to be covered include:- Ø National Ø International Ø Persons in News Ø Places in News Ø Awards Ø Appointments Ø Sports Ø Science & Technology Ø Economy Ø Political Ø Geography Ø Meetings Ø Committees Ø Defense Ø Space Ø Nobel prize Ø Booker prize Ø Padma awards Ø Film awards Ø Economic survey Ø RBI credit policy Ø Constitution amendments Ø Court judgments Ø Joint declaration with heads of foreign states Ø Human development index Ø Watch Television / Listen to radio v Daily reading of newspapers v Planned preparation v Scientific reading v Study with examination point of view. Current Affairs:- To crack BCJ you need to have command over current affairs. Current affairs play a key role. The perfect 10 steps:- 1. Contemporary issues: – Issues of the Nation, State affairs. Affairs of our neighbours. 2. Defence system: – Airforce, Navay and military developments. Agreements with different countries. Research and development. 3. Committees and Commissions: – National and State level committees and its reports and their heads etc. 4. National and International meetings: – National, International bilateral, trilateral and multilateral meetings. 5. Space: – Satellite launching, ISRO, DRDO etc. 6. Reports: – Various agencies reports like, UNO, UNDP, WHO etc. India’s position, AP’s position. Indians place in various magazines like Time, Forbes 7. Places, Persons and appointments: – State, National and International level appointments. Persons and places in news. 8. Awards, achievements: – Nobel, Magsaysay, Pulitzer, Booker prizes. Oscar, Filmfare, Nandi awards etc. 9. Sports: – National and International level sports. Award winners from AP and India. 10. Miscellaneous: – Headline News which occupy front page of news papers. Books and authors. Major controversies. Read news papers, magazines watch Television and listen to Radio. The harder you fall, the higher you bounce – AMERICAN PROVERB All things pass…Patience attains all it strives for – MOTHER TERESA The only disability in life is a bad attitude – Scott Hamilton COLUMNS & COLUMNISTS Online and offline – K Narayanan (The Hindu) Out of London – Hasan Suroor (The Hindu) State Craft – Harish Khare (The Hindu) Realty check – Siddharth Vardarajan (The Hindu) Cambridge Letter – Bill Kirkman (The Hindu) Men and Ideas – Guru charan Das (The Times of India) Media Matters -Sevanti Ninan (The Hindu) Politically incorrect -Shobhaa De (The Times of India) Indiaspora -Chidanand Rajghatta (The Times of India) Some of the most important news papers published in different countries Daily Mirror UK Daily Express UK Daily Mail UK Guardian UK New York Times USA Daily News USA Washington Post USA Toronto Globe & Mail USA People’s Daily China Asahi Shimbun Japan Dawn Pakistan Jang Pakistan News Agencies / Head quarters AP Associated Press New York IRNA Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran PPI Pakistan Press International Karachi PTI Press Trust of India Mumbai SPA Saudi Press Agency Riyadh TASS Telegraph Agency of the Moscow Sovereign State UPI United Press International New York XINHUA Xinhua Beijing AFP Agence France Presse Paris MEDIA TERMINOLOGY *Banner: The main headline stretching right across the top of a page over all the columns. *Blow-up: An enlargement. *By-line: Name of a reporter of contributors printed above the story. *Credit lines: A line acknowledging the source of a story. *Crusade: A campaign by a newspaper to bring pressure to accomplish a specific social mission. *Edition: The total copies of a newspaper printed at one run *Free-lance: A journalist not on the staff of any newspaper but usually contributing to several newspapers. *Lead: The main story in a newspaper or the first paragraph in a news story giving the main facts. *Spot news: News obtained on the scene of the event, hence fresh, live news. Usually used to refer to unexpected events. *Tabloid: It is the page half the size of a broad sheet, usually applied to newspapers of page size. *Tip-off: As information passed on to a newspaper by the public *Yellow Journalism: Refers to a newspaper or journal specializing in highly sensational stories • Caption: words accompanying picture or graphic. * Dateline: place from which story was filed usually applied to stories from abroad Ads / Captions / tag lines :- Journalism of courage The Indian Express Connecting people Nokia Count on us Maruti Suzuki Because you are worth more Timesjobs.com Speak out OUTLOOK Keep walking Johnnie Walker God’s own country Kerala Be the first to know CNN Growth is Life Reliance Putting News First BBC World The complete man Raymond Connecting India BSNL Read to lead The Financial Express Incredible India India Tourism What ever it takes CNN-IBN Sabse Tej Aaj Tak News papers/TV channels / magazines & editors Tehelka Tarun Tejpal Outlook Vinod Mehta The Hindu N Ram Hindustan Times Vir Singhvi CNN-IBN Rajdeep Sardesai Times Now Arnab Goswami India Today Aroon Purie India Today (telugu) Prabhu Chawla Tribune H K Dua TV programmes Big Fight – NDTV 24×7 (Barkha Dutt) Devil’s Advocate – CNN-IBN (Karan Thapar) India Tonight – CNBC India (Karan Thapar) Indian Idol – Sony Nenu Saitham ETV2 Ghantaravam ETV2 Neti bharatam ETV2 Neralu Ghoralu ETV2 Vikata Kavi TV9 Naveena TV9 (anchor: Jhansi) NEWS PAPERS & SUPPLEMENTS Pratibha plus Eenadu Quest The Hindu Sadhana Andhra Bhoomi Diksoochi Andhra Jyothi Cheli Vaartha Opportunities The Hindu Brand Equity Economic Times DAYS National Press Day November 16 Anti-Terrorism day May 21 Earth day April 22 National Technology Day May 11 World Book day April 23 World Health day April 7 World tourism day September 27 World water day March 22 World Press Freedom Day May 3rd World Human Rights day December 10 Small Industry Day August 30 World Vegetarian Day October 2 World AIDS Day December 1 Anti Tobacco Day May 31 Top dailies in India Dainik Jagran Hindi Dainik Bhaskar Hindi Malayala Manorama Malayalam Anand Bazar Patrika Bengali Books and authors The World is Flat Thomas Friedman The Alchemist Paulo Cohelo Freedom is not Free Shiv Khera How to Know God Deepak Chopra Argumentative Indian Amartya Sen Harry Potter (series) J K Rowling One night @ the call center Chetan Bhagat In the line of Fire Pervez Musharraf A suitable boy Vikram Seth War & Peace Tolstoy Midnight’s Children Salman Rusdie Algebra of infinite justice Arundhati Roy Abbreviations IBSA India Brazil South Africa SAFTA South Asian Free Trade Area NACO National AIDS Control Organisation NCMP National Common Minimum Programme DRDO Defence Research and Development IRDA Insurance Regulatory Development Authority CNN Cable News Network CDMA Code Division Multiple Access PCI Press Council of India LCA Light Combat Aircraft BAFTA British Academy Film Awards NREGP National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme CAS Conditional Access System ULFA United Liberation Front of Asom OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development FDI Foreign Direct Investment CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty MTCR Missile Technology Control Regime WMD Weapons of Mass Destruction CSO Central Statistical Organization GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System ESMA Essential Services Maintenance Act NRSA National Remote Sensing Agency CRR cash reserve ratio SLR Statutory Liquidity Ratio Correct Spellings:- Vacuum; embarrass; separate, immigrant; catastrophe; twelfth; ninth; fortieth; eighth; sycophant; repetition; deception; extension; intention; cliffhanger; symbiotic; fierce; phenomenal; reverberate; renaissance; demeanour; paradigm; entrepreneur; gnarled, timbre, aegis; berserk; dais; germane; unctuous; vignette; critique; prescient; pseudonym.