Today we celebrate World Press Freedom Day. The United Nations
General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day or just World
Press Day. This day is celebrated to raise awareness of the importance of
freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold
the right to freedom of expression which is enshrined under Article 19 of the
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Is the journalist of tomorrow
prepared to fight for the freedom of the press? How many if any were willing to
take up the cause of journalism?
In the State of Goa, there are three
educational institutions where one can get an idea of journalism. Subojit Dutta
who is a lecturer at Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts & Science, Margao,
said the course was essentially a multimedia course and was not focused on
journalism. It was about helping students learn film making. He said the reason
was that when this course had commenced there was a serious shortfall in the
number of technical people required for film making. This was, he said, meant
for those interested in film making though anyone interested in television
journalism could sharpen their skills.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Don Bosco College, Panjim was another institute which provided a
course in mass communication. Agnelo D’Souza, a faculty member, said the course
was called BA in Mass Communication. The course does focus upon journalism as
one of the fields in Mass Communication. “Every field that is focussed on in
our course is taught with the intention of that student making a career out of
that respective subject. This includes journalism too. The focus of the BA Mass
Communication course was to provide students with a complete understanding of
the various fields in Mass communication and the creative and technical
elements that’s involved in it. More importantly, since Mass Communication was
a very opinionated field, they also instill in them the capacity to have their
own voice in whatever they do in this field of Media,” says Agnelo.
When asked about the kind of fields did students aspire to be a
part of? He says, “Students wanted to be related to the fields of broadcast,
graphics, social media, photography, video filming and editing and journalism.
Journalism featured in their list, if it was a subject they were interested in
pursuing.”
Nilima Fernandes, a mass media student from South Goa said she
was interested in working in the world of public relations outside Goa. Asked
if she had considered journalism, she was frank when she said, “There was more
money to be made in mass communication than in journalism. More importantly,
stress levels were not the same.”
However, Peter Fernandes said print journalism was something he
would seriously consider. He said he would consider the digital platform very
seriously.
The only institute that offers a degree in journalism in Goa is
St Xavier’s College, Mapusa. Nitin Volvoikar, Course Coordinator, Department of
Journalism said it was a very popular self-financed program. He said, “We have
a large number of candidates coming from outside the state who come here to
acquire the skills. We have students from the North and the South of India and
from countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Angola to name a few who are
interested in becoming journalists. Yes, we have Goans too who train to become
journalists. Some of them stay in the state and others leave and go to work in
other states or even out of the country.”
Quite
a few students he said moved into corporate communications, so it was even
handed in terms of interest across jobs in communication. The demands on
journalists may increase as time passes but those interested in this profession
will choose it.
