Syllabus WBSET Mass Communicaion & Journalism

THE WEST BENGAL COLLEGE SERVICE COMMISSION

STATE ELIGIBILITY TEST

SYLLABUS

SUBJECT : MASS COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM     Code No.: 25

Unit – 1: Introduction to Journalism and Mass Communication

a. Concept of Journalism and mass communication, mass communication in India.

b. History, growth and development of print and electronic media. Major landmarks in print and electronic media in Indian languages. Media’s role in formulation of states of India.

c. Media criticism and media literacy, Press Council and Press Commissions of India, status of journalism and media education in India. Media policies of the Government of India since Independence.

d. Models and theories of mass communication, normative theories, administrative and critical traditions in communication, media and journalism studies, communication and theories of socio-cultural, educational and agricultural change. Technological determinism, critique of Marshall McLuhan’s views on media and communication and Marxist approaches. Information and knowledge societies.

e. Indian traditions and approaches to communication from the Vedic era to the 21^st century. Western and Eastern philosophical, ethical and aesthetic perceptions of communication - Aristotle and Plato, Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic traditions.

f. Media and culture - framework for understanding culture in a globalised world. Globalisation with respect to politico-economic & socio-cultural developments in India.

Unit – 2 : Communication for Development and Social Change

a. Concept and definition of development communication, role of media and journalism in society, characteristics of Indian society – demographic and sociological impact of communication, media and journalism. Media and specific audiences.

b. Development and social change. Issues and post-colonial conceptions.

c. Deconstruction of dominant paradigm of communication and development. Responses and critique of dominant models.

d. Corporatisation of development - Corporate Social Responsibility, non-state actors in development, mass campaigns by NGOs, Government of India, international agencies and corporates. Paradigms and discourse of development communication.

e. Emergence of global civil societies, public sphere, global communication system – nation state-universal, national communication policies.

f. Leading influencers of social reform in India - Raja Rammohan Roy, Pandit Madanmohan Malviya, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Mahatma Gandhi, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Deendayal Upadhyay, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia etc.

Unit – 3 : Reporting and Editing

a. News-concepts, determinants (values), structure and perspectives. Reporting for print, radio, television and digital media. Types of reporting. National and international news agencies and feature syndicates, functions and role.

b. Writing for print, electronic and digital news media. Translation and transcreation.

c. Editing and presentation techniques for print, television and digital media.

d. Journalism as profession, reportage of contemporary issues, ethics of reporting.

e. Critique of western news values, effect of new technology on global communication flows.

f. Niche Reporting.

Unit – 4 : Advertising and Marketing Communication

a. Definition, concept, functions, types, evolution of advertising, standards and ethics in advertising. Theories and models of communication in advertising.

b. Brand management.

c. Advertising management - agency-role, structure and function, client-agency relationship, media planning and budgeting.

d. Advertising and creativity, language and translation.

e. Advertising campaign and marketing.

f. Advertising and marketing research.

Unit – 5 : Public Relations and Corporate Communication

a. Public Relations and Corporate Communication - definition, concept and scope.

b. Structure of PR in State, Public, Private and non-government sectors.

c. Tools and techniques of PR and Corporate Communication.

d. Crisis communication and crisis communication management.

e. Ethics of Public Relations.

f. International Public Relations, communication audit.

Unit – 6 : Media Laws and Ethics

a. Concept of law and ethics in India and rest of the world.

b. The Constitution of India, historical evolution, relevance.

c. Concept of freedom of speech and expression in Indian Constitution.

d. Defamation, Libel, Slander-IPC 499-502, Sedition IPC 124(A), Contempt of Courts Act 1971, Official Secrets Act 1923, Press and Registration of Books Act 1867, Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1955, Wage Boards, Law of Obscenity (Section 292-294 of IPC); the Miller test, the Hicklin test, Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986, Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Parliamentary Privileges. Famous cases involving journalists and news media organisations.

e. Right to Information Act 2005, Copyright Act 1957, Intellectual Property Rights, Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995, Information Technology Act (relevant) 2000 and cyber laws, Cinematograph Act 1952, Film Censorship, Press Council Act as amended from time to time, IPR, ASCI, Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, Various regulatory bodies for print, TV, Advertising, PR, and Internet.

f. Rules, regulations and guidelines for the media as recommended by Press Council of India, Information and Broadcasting ministry and other professional organisations, adversarial role of the media, human rights and media.

Unit – 7 : Media Management and Production

a. Definition, concept of media management. Grammar of electronic media.

b. Communication design theories and practice.

c. Media production techniques – print and electronic.

d. Digital media production techniques.

e. Economics and commerce of mass media in India.

f. Principles and management in media industry post liberalisation.

Unit – 8 : ICT and Media

a. ICT and media - definition, characteristics and role. Effect of computer mediated communication. Impact of ICT on mass media. Digitisation.

b. Social networking.

c. Economics and commerce of web enabled media.

d. Mobile adaption and new generation telephony by media, ethics and new media.

e. ICT in education and development in India, online media and e-governance.

f. Animation - concepts and techniques.

Unit – 9 : Film and Visual Communication

a. Film and television theory.

b. Film and identity in Indian film studies, leading film directors of India before and after Independence. Indian cinema in the 21st century.

c. Approaches to analysis of Indian television.

d. Visual Communication. Visual analysis.

e. Basics of film language and aesthetics, the dominant film paradigm, evolution of Indian cinema-commercial and ‘non-commercial’ genres, the Hindi film song, Indian aesthetics and poetics (the theory of Rasa and Dhvani).

f. National cinema movements: Soviet Montage cinema, German Expressionistic cinema, Italian Neo-Realistic cinema, French New Wave cinema, British New Wave cinema, Indian New Wave cinema, Period cinema. Cinema in the new millennium.

Unit – 10 : Communication Research

a. Definition, concept, constructs and approaches to communication research process.

b. Research Designs - types, structure, components, classical, experimental and quasi experimental, variables and hypotheses; types and methods of research; basic, applied, descriptive, analytical, historical, case study, longitudinal studies.

c. Research in journalism, Public Relations, advertising, cinema, animation and graphics, television, Internet, social media practices, magazines, children’s media. Communication, journalism and media research in India.

d. Levels of measurement: sampling-probability and non-probability, tests of validity and reliability, scaling techniques. Methods and tools of data collection-interviews, surveys, case studies, obtrusive and non-obtrusive techniques, ethnography, schedule, questionnaire, dairy, and internet based tools, media specific methods such as exit polls, opinion polls, telephone, SMS surveys and voting with regard to GEC (general entertainment content).

e. Data analysis, testing, interpretation, application of statistical tests-parametric and nonparametric, tests of variance-univariate, bivariate and multivariate, tests of significance, computer mediated research.

f. Ethical considerations in communication, media and journalism research, writing research reports, plagiarism.

Download PDF Version of this Syllabus

Page Last Updated on 09.04.2020