'Media'sphere, the new name for Bachelors

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
Perks. Visibility. Extensive travel. Long hours that stretch into days and weeks. Just a few of the many ups and downs that tumble out of the box, should you opt for a career in the 'media'sphere. With scores of students flocking to be part of the BMM (Bachelor's in Mass Media) boom, this tribe is only set to increase.

And why not? As fresh graduate Poonam Soni says,"I may have missed the BMM bus, but I am not blind to the boom in the media field. Look at all these fresh newspaper launches, the 24-hour news channels, the upsurge in the niche filmmaking industry and the innovative advertising that is currently transforming the entire media landscape in the country. It is simply mind boggling!"

No wonder Soni plans to go in for a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Media College next year. She hopes it will chart the course of a prominent, high profile career for her. But how significant (or insignificant) is a 'specialised' degree in media, anyway? After all, we've heard of 'raw' success stories where people with little or no background of training in media have managed to achieve great heights in the sector. Thus, right when hordes of students are going in for the BMM qualification, they often skip the by now-mandatory-for-most-fields post graduation and directly enter the world of work.

Maura Amarkant, in-charge, corporate communications, MET League of Colleges, for one,does not buy into this trend. "MET Institute of Mass Media offers an 18-month Post Graduate Programme in Management of Mass Media (MMM) with specialisations in journalism, advertising and entertainment. At the end of the programme, the student is awarded a Diploma from MET Institute of Mass Media," informs Amarkant, going on to add,"After BMM, fresh appointees spend at least a year or so getting trained at the workplace. Post graduation will reduce this span and make sure that students perform from Day One."

And how would this be managed? "Students are required to choose their area of specialisation at the time of admission," she says, "the programme will simulate actual job environments and allow students to run a proxy advertising agency, newspaper, entertainment company, etc. Besides, there will be tie-ups with media agencies, advertising agencies and entertainment companies to help students train with them and get a feel of the actual work environment."

Besides, the institute is equipped with a 'shooting floor' with digital multi camera, online control room with mixers,monitors and digital recorders, post production editing suite, recording suite with latest acoustic facilities, et al. While some students prefer the learning-on-the-job idea, the pro-PG group counter with impressive info on the benefits of getting that special diploma/ degree under your belt.

Recently, Northpoint Centre of Learning at Khandala is beginning a course called 'Professional Programme in Advertising, Media and Communications', which will commence from July 2007. This programme will be in association with Lintas India, the communication company that is part of the Interpublic Group, USA. The course will be a one-year full-time programme designed to combine theory and practice for a career in advertising, media or marketing communications. Practical internships in leading organisations in the field will also be a part of the course, and senior academicians and practicing managers from the industry would impart training.

"The Lintas Group is the academic partner of the Northpoint Centre of Learning," states SV Siva, programme director, postgraduate courses at the Institute that is located in the scenic locales of Khandala. "Thus, Lintas Media Group provides strategic inputs for the media management course. The courses are a blend of contemporary theory and rigorous on-the-job training. Internships with various players in the communications sectors are an integral part of the programmes.Also, a stint in rural India is part of the Rural Communications programme," informs Siva.

Concurs a representative of Pune's Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC), "Post graduation minimises the entry barrier to the media field and the pay package offered to a PG student is different and much higher."

At the same time, however, almost all institutes reaffirm that job exposure can only add value to the PG process. As for student Durgesh Gupta, the media world seems to be split right down the middle. This BMM graduate from KC College, currently a first year student of the PGeMBA at MET, suggests different approaches for people opting for creative and for those opting for technical or business-oriented spheres.

"If you want to be handling the strategising side of media operations, then it's better to go in for a post graduation - if only for the piece of paper that says you hold a PG diploma," Gupta says, "but if you are in film or TV production or in any other creative aspect, then it is useless to study further. You can always learn things hands-on, on the job. An MBA or a PG degree is mainly about grooming yourself for the market rather than actual training; courses like those at FTII, Pune are reputed because of their use as a platform to launch yourself."

Even as media mushrooms and options bloom for certain categories, for some others focused training is still a distant dream. Sample this: Industry insiders agree that there is a growing trend among students of seeking post grad courses for out-of-the-box career options such as TV script writing and production, writing for theatre, etc. Yet, academia is still struggling to catch up with this new wave since, compared to the West,there are very few institutes (credible and recognised) in India offering such courses. Mostly,such courses are offered as either a MDP programme or a short-term certificate course by an established institute.An institute representative points out another interesting fact: there is evidently a growing trend of science or engineering students opting for mass media and communication courses.

Meanwhile, though a number of BMM graduates complain of monotonous repetition in their post graduation classes, at least one point of differential the Master's or diploma programmes offer is that they strive for campus placements for their graduates. Another crucial factor that often comes into play is the cost aspect of these programmes that range from 12 and 18 months to an exhaustive two years in duration.

Be that as it may, for a lot of students, anything is worth it as long as they gain that crucial toehold in the cutthroat industry. So the verdict in this scenario is best left to someone from the inner circle. Someone like this recruitment manager from the TV industry,who explains, "Since education within the media field is getting more structured,we too are taking in fresher's with postgraduate degrees in mass communication for managerial positions. We opt for campus recruitments for sales and marketing positions, for example, and then groom the candidate within the firm. Having said that,one can't deny the importance of work experience in recruitment considerations and the ideal candidate is one who does have some work experience along with a postgraduate degree to back that up."

Well, quote unquote to that, folks!