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Course Information

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M.A. in Convergent Journalism (20 Seats)

( An Integrated Masters Degree Course in Print, Broadcast, Online and Photo Journalism)

While the previous two centuries will be remembered for the advent of different technologies, the current century will go down the annals of history for the convergence of technologies, ideas, ideologies and cultures. Just like other spheres of life, in journalism too, convergence is taking place at the levels of technology, media ownership and the presentation and packaging of news. This process began with the convergence of technologies which is now strengthening the concept of cross media ownership, where media companies “encourage cross- promotion and content sharing among print, online, and television platforms owned by the same company” says Professor Rich Gordon of the Northwestern University. According to Stephen Quinn, an associate professor of journalism at Deakin University in Australia, “as a student graduating from a journalism program in the early 21st century, you need to know about convergence because it is likely to influence the way your career evolves.” Keeping in view the needs of today’s media industry we have designed this integrated course of Print, Broadcast, (radio and television), Online and Photojournalism for the journalists of the future

The main objective of this course is to produce skilled and trained journalists for all the four streams of journalism who are committed to the issues of ethics, social relevance and human rights. The syllabus of the course is designed to equip the students with the skills and knowledge necessary for a career in any of the above mentioned streams of journalism as reporters, news writers, copy editors and producers.

Duration : Two Years
Number of Seats: 20

Eligibility

Students holding a bachelors degree in any discipline with a minimum of 50% marks will be eligible for admission in this course.

Admission Process

For admission in this course the students will be required to submit a Statement of Purpose along with their application forms and present themselves for a written test and an interview. The distribution of marks for the admission test will be as follows:

Entrance Test

The following is the distribution of marks for the Entrance Examination:

Written Test : 200

Interview: 45

Portfolio: 55

The written test will be divided into two parts. In part ‘A’ there will be 100 multiple choice questions each carrying 01 mark.Part ‘B’ of the written test will consist of 05 descriptive questions, each carrying 15 marks. 25 marks will be reserved for writing style, command over the language and articulation. Students will get four hours to complete both parts of the written test.

Introduction to Course:

The course will be completed in approximately 66 weeks or 2376 hours that are effectively available for teaching in two consecutive academic years. It is tailored in such a fashion that every student will spend nearly 40% of his/her time in learning theory and the rest in receiving hands-on training and doing practical exercises. They will be given extensive hands-on training in writing, reporting and editing the news for news papers, web portals, television and radio. For this purpose two news agencies (UNI and PTI) and a web news portal will be made available to them with an audio and video stream. The students will run the news portal under the supervision of a teacher and learn the art of writing, reporting and editing for print and electronic media in real conditions. They will also be attached with Radio Jamia FM and some NGO’s for training in programme presentation and writing on developmental issues. Seminars and workshops will also be organized from time to time during this course on various issues, topics and subjects.

In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives of the course it will be structured as follows:

Structure of the Course

Instead of semester system annual system of examination is observed in this course and the syllabus of the course is divided between 1^st and 2^nd years as under:

First Year:

Perspectives in Mass Communication Theory and Research.
Print Journalism.
Radio Journalism.
TV Journalism.
Online Journalism.
Photojournalism.
English for Communication.

Second Year:

In the second year students will get a chance to choose an area of specialization by selecting anyone of the following papers:

Radio Journalism.
TV Journalism.
Photojournalism.

The maximum number of students in each of the above papers will be 8 and the minimum number will be 6. The students will be given admission in each paper on the basis of merit (by taking into account the numbers of the written examination in the 1st year) and aptitude (by taking into account the numbers scored by a student in his/her chosen field in the 1st year.).

Besides choosing one of the above mentioned papers as their subject of specialization students will have to choose two subsidiary papers from the papers given below:

Media Management.
Advertising.
Public Relations and Corporate Communication.

The following papers will be compulsory for all the students irrespective of their area of specialization:

Press Laws and Ethics.
India and the Contemporary World.
Reporting Society: Science, Health and Environment.

This approach is adopted not only to make the course extremely focused but also to give the students room to change their field of work if they decide to do so at any stage in their careers or work at different platforms in the same organization right from the beginning. Since there will be limited number of students in each paper it will be much easier for the Centre to give them the required hands-on training and to arrange campus recruitment drives for them.

All the Theory Papers will carry 150 marks each while Production Papers will carry 200 marks each. The distribution of marks in Theory and Production papers will be as follows:

In case of theory papers 100 marks will be reserved for the annual written exam and the remaining 50 marks will be divided between classroom assignments and viva voce; 30 marks for internal assessment (assignments, punctuality and classroom behavior) and 20 marks for viva voce.
In case of papers where practical exercises are involved 100 marks will be reserved for annual written exam, 50 marks for final product, 30 marks for internal assessment (assignments, punctuality and classroom behavior), and 20 marks for viva voce.
In order to pass the final exams the students will have to secure a minimum of 40% marks in theory and the practicals separately.

To be eligible to appear in the final exams students will be required to attend a minimum of 75% of all the classes and practicals. Any student not fulfilling this condition will not be allowed to appear in the final examination and will be subject to the existing rules and regulations of AJK MCRC.

Fees & Dues for M. A in Convergent Journalism 2007-08

Annual Course Fee and Dues:

M.A. (Previous)

A.	Admission Charges	Rupees
I	Admission Fee	100
II	Enrolment Fee (if not already enrolled)	50
III	Library Admission Fee (When the student joins Jamia first time)	100
IV	Identity Card Fee	50
V	Cost of Syllabus	300
	Total A	600
B.	Annual Fees
I	Canteen Establishment Charges	50
II	Community Radio/Misc	160
III	Cultural Activities	150
IV	Equipment Caution Money (Refundable)	10,000
V	Examination Fee	500
VI	Foundation Day Celebration	100
VII	Garden Fees/ Campus Maint. Fee	100
VIII	Library Caution Money (Refundable)	2,000
IX	Medical Fee	100
X	Sports and Games	150
XI	Student Aid Fund	50
XII	Subject Association Fund	100
XIII	University development fund	500
XIV	University Magazine	40
	Total B	14,000
	C. Tuition Fees	27,000
	D. UNI Subscription Charges M.A in Convergent Journalism	3600
	E. Broad band Connection charges	4800
	F. Stationary & Consumables	5000
	G. Workshops	3750
	H. Study Tour	3250
	I. Equipment charges	2600
	Grand Total (A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I)	64,600

M.A. (Final)

A.	Admission Charges	Rupees
I	Admission Fee	100
II	Identity Card Fee	50
III	Cost of Syllabus	300
	Total A	450
B.	Annual Fees
I	Canteen Establishment Charges	50
II	Community Radio/Misc.	160
III	Cultural Activities	150
IV	Equipment Caution Money (Refundable)	10,000
V	Examination Fee	500
VI	Foundation Day Celebration	100
VII	Garden Fees/ Campus Maint. Fee	100
VIII	Medical Fee	100
IX	Sports and Games	150
X	Student Aid Fund	50
XI	Subject Association Fund	100
XII	University development fund	500
XIII	University Magazine	40
	Total B	12,000
	C. Tuition Fees	27,000
	D. UNI Subscription Charges	3600
	E. Broad band Connection charges	4800
	F. Stationary & Consumables	5000
	G. Workshops	3750
	H. Study Tour	3250
	I. Equipment charges	2600
	Grand Total (A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I)	62,450

For further details of this course please wait for the prospectus 2007-2008