Career Avenues Of Studying Media And Communication - All You Need To Know

 What is Media and Communication? 

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According to Wikipedia, “Media studies, is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass communication, communication, communication sciences, and communication studies”.  

John Fiske, in his book Introduction to Communication Studies, says that one school of thought sees communication as the ‘transmission of messages’ and the other school perceives communication as the ‘production and exchange of meanings’. He elaborates that scholars of communication are concerned with matters like efficiency and accuracy of using the channels and media of communication, and how senders and receivers encode and decode information. 

Also, they are concerned with how messages, or texts, interact with people to produce meanings; that is, it is concerned with the role of texts in our culture. 

Fiske says that the former process school tends to address itself to acts of communication whereas the latter school’s main method of study is semiotics (the science of signs and meanings). 

 The evolution of the field of Mass Communication 

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To understand this field of study more deeply, let me take you down the lane to the days when mass communication started flourishing. The primitive man used drawings, signs, and facial impressions to communicate. His grunts and growls gave way to actual words. As he became more civilized, he learned the art of writing and developed the language script and started keeping written records. 

The rulers used to circulate news across their kingdom as proclamations by the drummers. Civilizations used stone, animal skin, and tree barks to write upon until paper was discovered. The invention of the printing press was a revolution in the field of mass communication, as mass production of books and other written material made them cheap and easily available.  

Today, there are many mediums of mass communication like television, newspapers, radio, and the internet. The world has become global and we can send messages across to any part of the world in less than a second. You can connect to your old school friend instantly on Facebook or Skype, even if they shifted to a far off place. Social media is yet another important platform for studying and researching about how communication systems work.  

What is New Media? 

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New media is any media that is delivered to the people through digital means. Any medium through which you can distribute digital content, for example, email, podcast, smartphone applications, streaming video content, all are examples of new media. 

The technological advancements, the need to stay connected, and the global world have brought a rapid growth in the media sector. 

Eligibility for B.A. (Honours) in Media and Communication 

• The minimum eligibility for admission in B.A. (Honours) in Media and Communication programme is passing in Class XII from any recognized board. 
•  Duration of the B.A. (Honours) in Media and Communication programme 
•  The duration of the B.A. (Honours) in Media and Communication is three years. 

What are the career prospects? 

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Till now you must have understood that there are umpteen areas in which you can make your career if you study media and communication. Workshops, seminars, and special lectures by industry leaders, which are regularly organized, will give the students an exposure to the media world. 

This will also help one to find his/her area of specialization so that one could pick a subject for higher studies and eventually work in that sector. The following are some of the areas which you will be learning about as a part of your B.A. in Media and Communication programme and which hold ample scope for you to build your career in: 

Advertising and Brand Communication  

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• Content writing
• Journalism 
• Broadcast Media – Radio and Television  
• Public Relations 
• Entertainment Media 
• Animation and gaming 
• Photography 
• Movie making 
• Corporate Communication 
• Media Management 
• Communication Research 

A very popular quote says, “News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising”. Journalism is a very lucrative career choice among students. Studying communication as a subject can enhance your knowledge of the field of news gathering and news writing across all media like newspapers – online or print, radio, television.  

The advent of the digital has opened more possibilities in photography and movie making, enabling you to take your art across the globe. The rise of online streaming platforms gives opportunities for producing good and quality content. Also, the animation and gaming industry is growing rapidly and is producing a lot of prospects. So, those who have the potential can hone their skills in these sectors. 

As a communication student, one can enter the advertising sector and can specialize to work in advertising agencies as copywriters, scriptwriters, and design advertising campaigns. As a part of your B.A. Media and Communication programme you will also learn more about brand communication.  

 A student keen on doing research can learn about communication research and look forward to specializing in that field to work with research firms. 

The prospects here are endless; one just needs some passion, desire to know more about the media, and determination to succeed. 

Author:

Prof. Swati Agarwal,
SOMC, Adamas University.