Contemporary Issues in Journalism and the Importance of Media Training

Journalism is an oft-repeated word and rightfully so! Well, think about the contemporary world sans journalists. Chances are that many things would actually come to a standstill. While we all are aware about fake news, post-truth, paid news and other such evils, it is also a reality that democracy would cease to exist without an active press. It could truly be argued that journalism is the lifeblood of democracy.

Over the past couple of decades though, journalism and journalists have been facing an existential crisis – the crisis of establishing credibility and credence. The corporate bondage of editorial content and the dominance of business interests over the interests of enlightenment and empowerment have practically decimated people’s confidence on free and fair journalism.

Thus, in India and rest of the world, there is an urgent necessity to redraw the contours of what constitutes journalism. This process would require a substantial amount of expertise and innovation. Now, before we go any further into the discussion, let us understand as to what are the major issues afflicting the world of news globally.

  1. Fake News: The word, per se, is an oxymoron. A piece of news can’t be fake and an information that is fake can’t be classified as news. However, the word was popularized by Donald Trump in his run up to the White House. It meant any cooked-up or incorrect news – either intentional or unintentional. Fake news, again, can be classified into misinformation, disinformation and mal information. While misinformation is unintentional, disinformation is intentional. Mal information, on the other hand, albeit being true, is created to cause harm. The popularization of social media has been one of the reasons for the growing significance of fake news as a whole. However, the mainstream media organizations have also goofed up on multiple occasions thereby reducing the trust of the audience on news.
  2. Post-Truth: Post-truth is an interesting phenomenon. In fact, it is more dangerous than fake news. Post-truth creates a situation in which belief systems and emotions become more important than objective facts. In such a scenario, it is difficult to ascertain the difference between news and propaganda. In the quest for increasing popularity, multiple news organizations from across the world have played to their galleries and contributed to post-truth. Needless to say that this also had a disastrous impact on news credibility.
  3. Paid News: Probably the biggest evil in the world of journalism, paid news is a practice where journalists or news organizations accept payments in cash or kind to either provide positive or negative coverage to an issue, person or organization. As bizarre as it may sound, paid news has almost assumed gigantic proportions in India. It kills the very essence of journalism and reduces news to propaganda and falsehood. In fact, renowned scribes Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy did a seminal study on how paid news is becoming a encompassing phenomenon in India.
  4. The Absence of a Viable Revenue Model: News primarily depends on advertisements for its survival. Thus, there exists an unholy domination of marketing content on editorial content across most of the news organizations. The dependence of news on advertisements has had a terrible impact on the objectivity and neutrality factors of journalism. Although crowd funding, paywalls and donations have been experimented with in terms of an alternative revenue model, the results have been far from satisfactory.

In the clamour for organisational growth and increased revenues, journalism has ceased to be a social service in addition to being just a profession. However, is it all bleak? While it seems so from the above discourse, the situation is definitely not beyond repair. There is a need to have a fresh relook at the profession and devise ways to reclaim the position of journalism as the pillar of an accountable nation. As it is, the aspiring and younger journalists can play the biggest role in this desired transformation. Let us look at some possible solutions:

  1. The Pre-Eminence of Ethics: While anybody can be a journalist and one didn’t require any specific education to be a journalist until very recently, contemporary circumstances demand a dedicated media education for aspiring journalists. The advent of newer technologies and the growing demands of the profession has made journalism training compulsory. While imparting training on journalism, media schools and universities need to deliver dedicated modules on journalistic ethics. The students need to be sensitised to the larger purpose of the press and rightfully so.
  2. The Importance of Alternative Media Platforms: In the current context, it is critically important to create a dedicated space for the alternative media platforms. It is important to understand that it is almost impossible for the mainstream media to come out of the clutches of corporate control. Hence, creating independent ventures is the need of the hour. The same can’t happen unless aspiring journalists are taught the basics of media entrepreneurship. A combination of financial viability and social enterprising is required. This training can only happen at a media school or university.
  3. Innovation Is the Key: Given the changing trends of the industry, the aspiring journalists need to emphasize on developing innovative practices to again draw the target audience. This is possible only when they understand the intricacies of the profession. Thus, it is a given that journalism training is the need of the hour. The practical aspect of the profession can be taught only at a media school or university. At a time, when technology is coming to the forefront, the importance of training can’t possibly be emphasized enough.
  4. The Importance of Research in Journalism: At a time when shallow research has become a decided bane in journalism, aspiring journalists need to stress on real research before creating their stories. The theoretical and methodical approaches of research can only be taught at a media school or a university. This is one of the most important reasons as to why media education is extremely important for aspiring and young journalists.

Given the current situation, journalism requires a serious facelift. The onus of giving this facelift is with the younger crop of journalists. The media schools and universities will play an equally important role in the transformation. However, what is required is an astute understanding of what ails the profession and its possible solutions. There is no reason to believe that journalism won’t be able to reclaim its position in the society.

Just in case you find this blog useful and relevant, please make it a point to share it with as many people as you like for them to know the contemporary issues in journalism and understand the importance of media training.

Scope of Life Sciences and Biotechnology: Understanding Various Specializations and Career Opportunities

Biotechnology, Microbiology and Biochemistry is an interdisciplinary field of applied Biology that encompasses all realms of life sciences, as well as related fields of technology, offers topics based on Genetics, Molecular Biology, Immunology, Biophysics, Plant & Animal Biotechnology, Microbial Biotechnology, Fermentation Technology, Bioinformatics, Genetic Engineering, Medical Biotechnology, and many others. The course also provides ample scope of skill development through appropriate laboratory training in different areas of Biotechnology. SoLB’s mission and vision is to prepare the students to undertake multi-disciplinary research and entrepreneurship in biotechnology and related areas in engineering, medicine and life sciences to provide solutions for human and animal health, agriculture and environment. In addition, our aim is to develop consultancy and community services to establish a thoroughly industrialized nation committed to the virtues of quality and relevance to contribute to the dynamic socio-economic development of the nation.

Key features of SoLB

  • Course structure based on UGC approved Choice Based Credit System (CBCS).
  • A dynamic curriculum that was designed and constantly updated while consulting stalwarts from industry and research institutes.
  • Highly experienced faculty members with PhD from national and International institutes offers teaching in diverse areas of applied biosciences.
  • Technology-based pedagogy including blended learning, flipped classrooms, think-pair-share, peer learning and video lectures.
  • Holistic learning through the development of human values and professional ethics, design thinking, venture ideation and entrepreneurship skills.
  • Seamless interdisciplinary learning and projects across the field.
  • A highly interactive and informative teaching atmosphere where students learn while discussing the relevant topics
  • Adamas Biotechnology Club offers a perfect platform to learn about entrepreneurship, career development and ideation.
  • Student Mentoring System to provide a personalized care for each student.

Why SoLB is your destination for career development in biological sciences

SoLB with its infrastructure of several state of the art labs offers a very interactive and innovative way of teaching. Practical understanding of theories always pave the way for a firm base of our students. Currently we have Molecular Biology lab, Recombinant Technology lab, Bioprocess lab and Plant Biotechnology lab. Additionally this year we have developed three more research labs to perform cutting-edge science in our campus. The new labs are Microbial Genetics lab, Cancer Biology lab and Stem Cell Biology labs addressing the current needs of scientific research. These labs are going to provide a golden opportunity for our graduate and postgraduate students to learn important techniques and building a challenging career. Several professors of SoLB with their strong background in scientific research provide their guidance to our students in shaping their mind to conduct a fruitful research.  

Skill development for industry-ready students

The course structure for several disciplines in SoLB has designed to cater the needs of skilled workers in the bioscience industry. To serve this purpose we have several eminent professors from industry and academia as a member in our Board of studies. Some notable members are Dr. Salavadi Easwaran – Dean, Biocon Academy, Prof. Ramakrishna Sen – HoD, Dept. of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur. We also have several courses on innovation, ideation, design & thinking to shape our new minds for innovative creations. These courses will help our students to develop ideas and design their steps to achieve them as a successful commercial product. Further, Adamas University Biotechnology club is offering a platform for our students to materialize their new ideas in the form of products required for betterment of society. The industry internships for students are arranged by our University’s Career Development Cell (CDC) and faculty members. The industry internships are mandatory for course completion.

Achievements of SoLB

The session of 2020-21 proves to be a very successful year for SoLB. Several students of B. Tech Biotechnology qualified GATE exams required to pursue M. Tech degrees in prestigious institutions of India. Among them Anwesha Bose scored GATE All India Rank- 48 becomes a momentary achievement for our school. There are few students from B.Sc. Biotechnology qualify JAM exams conducted by IITs and required to pursue M.Sc. in prestigious institutions of India. The year also marked with very good number of placement of our B. Tech and M.Sc. level students in several reputed companies with attractive salaries. Two professors from Department of Biotechnology and Department of Microbiology receives prestigious research grants from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India.

 

Courses offered by SoLB

SoLB is among one of several schools of Adamas University creating vibrant innovative minds for tomorrow’s need of India. There are mainly three departments in SoLB offering twelve knowledge and research-based programmes:

Department of Biotechnology

  • B.Tech Biotechnology (Four-years duration)
  • B.Tech Food technology (Four-years duration)
  • B.Sc. Biotechnology (Three-years duration)
  • M.Tech Biotechnology (Two-years duration)
  • M.Sc. Biotechnology (Two-years duration)
  • PhD Biotechnology (Five-years duration)

Department of Microbiology

  • B.Sc. Microbiology (Three-years duration)
  • B.Sc. Genetics (Three-years duration)
  • M.Sc. Microbiology (Two-years duration)
  • PhD Microbiology (Five-years duration)

Department of Biochemistry

  • B.Sc. Biochemistry (Three-years duration)
  • M.Sc. Biochemistry (Two-years duration)
  • PhD Biochemistry (Five-years duration)

 

Eligibility criterion

B.Tech Biotechnology and B. Tech Food Technology

  • Minimum 60% marks overall in 10 + 2 level with Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Mathematics
  • Qualify Adamas University Admission Test (AUAT) conducted annually.

B.Sc. Biotechnology/ Microbiology/ Biochemistry

  • Minimum 50% marks overall in 10 + 2 level with Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Mathematics
  • Qualify Adamas University Admission Test (AUAT) conducted annually.

M.Tech Biotechnology

  • Minimum 50% marks overall in B.Tech/ M.Sc. (Biotechnology/ Biochemical Engineering/Chemical Engineering) level.
  • Qualify Adamas University Admission Test (AUAT) conducted annually.

M.Sc. Biotechnology/ Microbiology/ Biochemistry

  • Minimum 50% marks overall in B.Sc. (Botany/ Zoology/ Physiology/ Biotechnology/ Microbiology/ Biochemistry/ Agriculture/ or in allied subject) level.

Qualify Adamas University Admission Test (AUAT) conducted annually.

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