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Mass Communication Streams & Fields | Advertising, Journalism

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Various career options in mass communication, Image courtesy: https://www.pinterest.com

Mass communication covers a wide area. There are different streams in it. A student can make a mark in any of the following fields through this subjects in mass communication:

  • Advertising
  • Journalism – Print, TV, Radio
  • Public Relations
  • Publishing
  • Film-making – direction and production

Advertising

In this age of commercialization, consumer is the king. Companies producing similar product in an industry are well-familiarized with this adage and go to any extent to influence buyers and create a liking in their mind about their product. Here comes in the role of Advertising.

Advertising is the means of informing as well as influencing the general public to buy products or services through visual or oral modes. It is one of the best subjects in mass communication. There are many different types of advertising that are effective for small businesses- Print advertisement, TV advertisement, Radio advertisement and now internet advertisement. All have only one purpose- to attract buyers towards the products being advertised. Advertising agency wants student to think out of the box. He should derive satisfaction by his creativity. In a nutshell, he should have a creative bent of mind.

Journalism

Print, TV, Radio : Journalism is all about collecting news (day to day happenings which are important) and making it available to the masses through a particular medium. A medium can be a Print one (newspaper, magazines) Television, Radio or Internet. Out of all the forms of journalism, print is the oldest form of journalism. Referred as Fourth Estate world over, the people in Journalism have big social responsibility on them. They just don’t serve their needs by taking on this profession but also cater to the needs of the masses and do the work of showing society the good and the ugly.

Television and online journalism has taken off in the last 5 years only while radio is still a popular source of news in remote-villages. A student who wants to be a journalist should have a keen interest in current affairs. He should have an inquisitive mind and should have the ability of going along well with the people. Patience is another quality which is looked after in a good Journalist.

Public Relations

Public relations is about portraying the positive image in the eyes of the public. Business houses, government, hospitals-all of them hire PR professionals to portray their image, objectives and policy in a best possible light. PR professionals work in PR agencies and handle different clients simultaneously. But some companies have their own PR department which oversees the PR work of that company only. To be a successful PR professional, one needs to have good contacts with the Reporters of different mediums. He should possess excellent communication skill. The ability to convince others is also desirable in any PR professional.

Publishing

This is another stream of Mass communication in which a student can venture into. But he has to keep in mind that to enter any publication house, he must possess flair for writing and good knowledge of the language in which the publication house works. There are number of publication houses in India which are engaged in different publishing work. While some work mainly on technical books, others work area is fiction books. A student who likes editing and has strong editing skills can found work in any publishing house.

Film-making

All of us love films and often discuss about them but are little aware about a career in film-making. Making films through various films recording medium is known as film making. This is a separate stream that has obtained position under Mass Communication course. It is highly interesting field but at the same time challenging also. World over various types of films are made like documentaries, promotional films, newsreels, feature films, TV commercials and music videos. All films make use of different technologies.

A film basically goes through five stages- Development, pre-Production, Production, Post Production and distribution. A film maker is the captain of the ship, who has to be involved in everything. He has to work in close co-ordination with all the members of the team and take out the best from every one. There are lots of employment opportunities in the area of film-making. Making of a film requires many professionals to work together. In the film, a director, scriptwriter, editor, cameraman has to coordinate.

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