CURRICULAM


These modules are designed to train the students into capable young journalists , ready to perform confidently in any news room.


Reporting

What is News ? –Qualities of news - News Value – Sources of News - Unexpected sources of news – Nose for News – Qualities of a reporter - What is reporting - General Reporting – Beat - Ofbeat - Investigative Reporting - Reporting Disasters, Election, Assembly and Parliament – Court and Crime Reporting – News Agencies – Press conferances - Meet the press - Public meeting - Speech – Local News - Reporting cultural events - Reporting Sports - Business reporting - Science and Environmental reporting - Agriculture reporting - Developmental reporting - Photo Journalism - Interviews.


Editorial Practices

The desk - Concept - Active Newsroom- Structure of News Story - Intro - Inverted Pyramid -General Principles in Editing - Copy preparation - Headlines - Layout - Photographs in the page - Captions - Style book - The Advt. factor - AIDA.

Feature - Various types - Human interest stories - Leader writing - Articles - Middle piece -Column writing - Week End editions and pull outs of Newspapers. Magazine Journalism - Different kinds of Magazines - Planning and Editing - Magazine cover.


Mass Communication

Communication - Introduction - Definition- Scope and function - Role of mass media. Evolution of Press, Radio, Television and Film - Advertisement. History of world journalism - History of Indian Journalism - History of Malayalam Journalism.


Ethics and Press Law

Salient features of Indian Constitution - History of Press Regualtion - Freedom of Press - How Judiciary functions - Jurisdiction of Courts - Court Procedure - How Police functions - Police Procedure -Defamation - Libel and slander - Contempt of Court - Children Act - PRB Act- Constitution and the Press - Press Council - Right To Information.- Ethics in journalism - Social commitment of journalists - Media and human rights - Citizen Journalism.


Public Relations and Advertising

Introduction to PR - Principles of PR - PR in modern society - Methods and tools - PR and the media - Press releases - Press Conference. PR in Government - How Govt. functions - Conference. PR in Government - How Govt. functions - Government and Press - Public opinion - organisations of Government PR - PR in companies - Image building, Crisis Management. Introduction to Advertisement - Social impact - Advertisement in print media - Advertisement for Radio and TV – Copy writing - Brand Equity.


Online Journalism and Technical Writing

Introduction to internet – History – World Wide Web – Portal, Vortal – On-line Edition of Newspapers – Search Engines – E-Commerce – Writing for the Web - New media – Hyper text – Key Component for Internet Journalism – Design of Web page – Convergence on the internet – Legal issues; on-line law . Technical Writing - Introduction - Principles - style - writing process - Planning - Technical editing - Mobile Journalism - Design and lay out.


Fundamentals of Good Writing

Grammar - Sentence construction - Use of language - Organization of matter and language -Journalistic Language - Difference between news paper language and individual style - Tight writing- Vocabulary -Correct words and simple grammar - figurative writing -Translation- (Malayalam, English)


Broadcast and TV Journalism

Introduction to TV Journalism : Evolution and history of TV Journalism - working pattern of a journalist inside a News Channel - Working tools - Scripting for TV News - Different formats of TV

News stories - Hard news - Soft and off-beat stories - ‘write to visual’ norms.

Live telecasting : appearing live on-the-spot - reporting facing the camera - tragedy scenes -mammoth meetings - Presenting news live - Rundown live news bulletins - Interviews - Conversational broadcast - programme production.

Television Desk

    Structure / Functions

    Rundown for Update bulletin / Rundown for Round Up bulletins

    PCR operation/Role of graphics Wing/News edit and visual coordination

    Ticker operation

News Anchoring

    Anchoring Technique, Television Debate,

    Anchoring pghter shows / News Reading.

Visual Story Making

    Write to Visual, Voice Over, Use of visual graphics

Radio News

    Reporting and editing for Radio - Radio interview - Radio features and documentaries.


Technics and Skills of Visual Media Journalist

Camera skills - Different types of shots and frames - Handling a camera/Assigning a camera person - Planning a shot - Editing and production - Fundamentals of good visual editing - Basics of programme production - Usage of effects - mixing and graphical support.

Documentary : Evolution - Basic elements of good documentaries - Different forms of treatment.


Computer Applications

Computer Fundamentals - Windows - Composing (English and Malayalam) - Internet - Editing on-line - PageMaker - Pagination - Introduction to Photoshop.


Current Affairs

Examination on this paper will be based on guest lectures delivered on all subjects, issues that boiled in the media during the academic year, topics of seminar presented, subjects discussed in the class and news analysis session.