Journalism - trend in India

The Indian press is vibrant, independent and discerning with a distinct personality of its own and journalists form a pool of authoritative commentators often quoted on major issues. The role of the press in India is more vital than ever in a time of economic and political change.

While English language newspapers and magazines published in the metropolitan cities are significant voices of opinion, Indian language newspapers with their wider circulation have an equally important role to play in a rapidly changing India. The readership of all types of newspapers and magazines is growing increasingly sophisticated and demands not only first class reporting and analysis but also expects quality design and presentation in its news coverage.

In response to these changes the media has been making rapid strides in India and journalists are facing major opportunities and challenges offered by new technology and an expanding market. These technologies have revolutionised news gathering, reporting and the process of publication.

Indian journalists like journalists everywhere now need to be even more flexible, resourceful and innovative in developing their skills to meet the challenges they are facing.

Britain is widely recognised as a leading player in the media and communications business and is offering this opportunity to young Indian journalists to share British experience and expertise.

The Programme

Launched by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1995 the Young Indian Print Journalists programme gives opportunity to twelve young Indian journalists, men and women, to be part of the twelve-week tailor-made training,  comprising eight-week academic programme at the University of Westminster and a four-week attachment with the British media.

Aims and Objectives

The aims of this special tailor-made programme are to:

• -          introduce young Indian journalists to current trends in British journalism
• -          expose them to the work practices of the British media
• -          broaden their understanding of different approaches to news gathering and presentation
• -          encourage a higher quality of analysis in feature writing, including the coverage of political and financial affairs
• -          give them a critical overview of the British journalism scene in order to place their own practice in a wider context.

Course Content

The programme will be developed from a mix of London- based practical writing and production assignments leading to the production of a website. Teaching will be by seminars, practical workshops and discussions with guest speakers from the newspaper and magazine publishing industries. The programme will also explore the personal and professional qualities needed by a successful editor and will address questions such as team building and a newspaper's relationship to its readers. British press law and professional and ethical issues will be critically examined. The programme will be both reflective and hands-on, with a strong emphasis on team project work.

Media Attachments

As part of the programme the journalists will work for four weeks at British newspapers and magazines in London or the Regions. Since the programme was established, attachments have been provided by many of the top names in the British media world, including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Economist, The Independent, The Financial Times, The BBC and many others.

About the University

The programme is based in the School of Media, Arts and Design at the University of Westminster. The University is based on four campuses in London and has been judged the best modern university in the UK in consecutive surveys by the Financial Times.

The School is housed in a modern £40 million campus (built 1995) at Harrow, 25 minutes from Central London, with some of the best facilities for media education in the UK, including professional level print, multimedia, TV, film and radio studios, a full range of digital editing facilities and a large electronic news room.

The School is home to a top-rated, internationally recognised research unit, the Communications and Media Research Institute, which scored the top mark of five in the last three official Research Assessment Exercises (1991 to 2001). The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, which will staff parts of the programme, achieved excellent results in its last UK teaching quality assessment in 1998 -a score of 23 out of 24 for the teaching of communication and media. In the 2004 survey by The Guardian newspaper of the teaching of media at all UK universities, the Department came out top, as it has for each of the three previous years. One of its staff, Professor Jean Seaton, is official historian at the BBC.

Chevening scholars will be based in a specially equipped newsroom within the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and each scholar will have the exclusive use of an iMac workstation with phone and Internet access for the duration of the programme. The Programme Director will be the journalist, author and academic - Adam Hopkins, in collaboration with Dr Peter Goodwin, Chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. Senior journalists from the British media and members of the Department will contribute to the programme.

 Number of Scholarships:                    Up to twelve (12)

Subject(s):                                            Journalism

Level and Duration:                            Advanced training programme of twelve (12) weeks

UK Institution:                                     University of Westminster (www.westminster.ac.uk )   

Target professional group:                Journalists in the print media, both English and languages

Age limit:                                               25- 35 years as on 30 November.

Eligibility:                                            Applicants for this programme should have at least five years full time journalistic experience with an English or Indian language newspaper or magazine. Candidates should also have good typing and computer skills (preferably DTP).

Programme Dates:                              12 weeks beginning November

 

Note: Remember to attach following documents with your application:

• ·         3 examples of your work, such as recently published articles/papers
• ·         however, if you are engaged in layout work, please submit an example of your design
• ·         if you are working in a desk or editorial capacity and do not posses recent examples of your writing, please submit an account of your daily editorial work which may be formatted as 'a day of my working life'
• ·         if you are working in a reporting capacity please attach 3 examples of your recent work, with date and name of publication