Are these the last of our kind?

My parents didnrsquot want me to study journalism they were afraid that Irsquod be killed or thrown in jail if I reported on anything controversial that angered the wrong people I stuck to my guns and when I got through to IIJNM Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media in Bangalore I felt like I had been right to insist on this career choice But then we got an email informing us that the college was shutting downrdquo says Arundhati name changed a 20yearold Bengaluru studentThe news that the premier Bengaluru Jschool was closing its doors has surprised the media industry ldquoItrsquos true we are shutting down as we did not get the expected number of applicants for the programmerdquo IIJNM dean Kanchan Kaur confirms to Sunday middayAcross social media and newsrooms in the country there have been intense discussions about what it meant for the industry when one of Indiarsquos most prestigious journalism programmes had failed to reach the minimum number of applicants required to keep its doors open We then askedmdashdoes no one want to be a journalist anymore Journalism students discuss the dayrsquos news at SIES College Sion PicAtul KambleArundhati is asking herself the same question ldquoSince the news broke therersquos been all this talk on social media about how nobody wants to get into journalism anymore that itrsquos a dying field Itrsquos added more fuel to my parentsrsquo arguments against this profession Irsquom no longer sure if journalism is the path for me eitherrdquo she says adding ldquoIIJNM sent an email assuring a full refund of the admission fee but I have a bigger problem at the moment I donrsquot have any other prospects I hadnrsquot bothered to apply for backup courses I will just have to take a step back and take stock of my optionsrdquoItrsquos not just IIJNM that has witnessed this plunge in student applications for journalism courses Just a few months ago another Bengaluru Jschool COMMITS Convergence of Media Multimedia and Information Technology announced its closure after a 23year run Once again the institute cited dwindling admissions Closer home in Mumbai Usha Pravin Gandhi College which offers a BMM course now has only advertising and PR as main electives As one of these writers found out the college instead now just offers print journalism sessions as a special class that is not gradedldquoThis is only the tip of the icebergrdquo says Smruti Koppikar a journalist with 35 years experience 25 of them also as visiting faculty at Sophia Polytechnicrsquos postgrad social communications media programmeJerry Pinto PicChirodeep Chaudhuri Swapan Dasgupta Smruti Koppikar visiting faculty at SCM SophiarsquosldquoThe news of IIJNM shutting down is huge but not entirely a surprise It may be among a few institutes that has come out and said so in as many words but other institutes are facing the same downward trend in numbers of admissions ldquoAt SCM Sophia we are as concerned as any other institute But numbers are not the entire story The way we have approached it in the last few years is to ensure that no matter the numbers we are able to train young minds and instil the values that the media desperately needs And we have made good on that despite all the tumult and attritionrdquo says KoppikarFor those working in the industry itrsquos no big mystery why more and more youth are turning away from journalism as a career choice There are multiple factors at play but the biggest one is also the media fraternityrsquos worst kept secretmdashabysmal payThe average entrylevel salary for a journalist is Rs 25000 per month or about Rs 3 lakh per yearStudents of St Paulrsquos Institute of Communication Education discuss what goes into the making of a newspaper PicShadab KhanThis is often far from sufficient to cover the cost of a PG diploma in journalism at most colleges where fees can go from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 9 lakh ldquoYou finish a course that costs Rs 4 lakh and then realise that your first package is only R35 lakh Then you compare your salary to your peers who did other courses and joined other professions and you realise journalists are paid peanuts No one in their right mind would want to work under these conditionsrdquo says Shubham Chohan 23 who graduated from IIJNMrsquos diploma course in 2022 and is now a senior correspondent with digital news media platform HW NewsItrsquos not a career for everybody says Chohan ldquoThe one thing this profession gives you is no two days are the same I might hate a better paying 9to5 job instead Irsquom willing to work 9to9 so long as I get to talk to new people and work on new stories every day There is also great satisfaction in telling the stories of people whose voices would ordinarily not have been heardrdquo says the young reporterIs it then a question of passion vs payAuthor Jerry Pinto who had taught the journalism module at Sophiarsquos for 27 years says ldquoI tell my students journalism can give you a great life but perhaps not a great lifestylehellip So which do you want Do you want the 2BHK with a sea view in Bandra and a large car parked downstairs or do you want to come home thinking lsquoGosh the farmer I spoke to has completely rewired how I look at palak spinachrsquordquoA photograph of the faculty at IIJNM which recently shut down The institute management said they did not get the minimum number of enrolments required to keep the doors open Pic courtesyIIJNMrsquos X handleBut passion doesnrsquot pay the rent or EMIs on loans ldquoIn 1981 a Delhiheadquartered national media group had conducted a study asking fresh graduates to rank what mattered to them most when choosing a profession The number 1 factor then was the ability to make a change with the job and at number 10 was remuneration In 1991 they repeated the survey but this time the youngsters said remuneration was number 1 and the ability to make change was number 10 I canrsquot help but think that perhaps the latter group of students was more honestrdquo says PintoAnanya Prasanth 20 is honest about the importance of money for her life as wellAs an undergraduate student studying multimedia and mass communication at SIES College Sion Prasanth had dreams of becoming an investigative journalist But she changed her mind in the third year of the courseAnjali Khosla and P SainathldquoA number of people suggested that I consider a different career path They said there was a lot of competition in journalism and that the pay scale was out of proportion to the amount of work required Financial satisfaction is very important to merdquo says Prasanth who is now pursuing a PG diploma in PR and corporate communicationsldquoI wanted a safe backup option I plan to work as a PR professional for a few years and then I might try my hand at journalismrdquo she saysThis is not uncommon says Dr Vaneeta Raney HOD of SIESrsquos BMM programme ldquoThere has not been much of a decline in admissions but most students opt for advertising or PR because those professions look more glamorous or offer better payrdquo she saysAnand Pradhan and Shubham ChohanNaziya Khan joint coordinator of Jai Hind Collegersquos mass media department says that enrolments been dropping since 2020 PreCOVID the institutersquos BMM programme would see 3040 students per batch but this number has been dipping since 2020 and plunged to just 11 students in the 2025 batch she saysldquoEven among the students who take up journalism as their specialisation many end up switching career paths and going into filmmaking advertising and PRrdquo Khan addsItrsquos not just freshersmdashexperienced reporters and desk hands are giving up on journalism too Carol Andrade Kunal Majumder and Dhruv RatheeEven a coveted MA degree from the Ivy League Columbia School of Journalism in the US didnrsquot shield Aayush Soni from feeling shortchanged on remunerationldquoIn 2019 I quit journalism because I felt jaded and the money was not enoughmdashlife is not getting cheaper You also live the profession and there is no switch off button So all that gets to peoplerdquo says Soni now a communications consultantldquoI would say that doing an expensive course like Columbia without any financial aid doesnrsquot make sense Itrsquos better to work inside a newsroom and get journalistic experiencerdquo he says An MA degree at Columbia costs almost 70000 R58 lakh in tuition aloneSoni is not alone in what in fact seems to be a global phenomenon In a 2022 survey conducted across 1500 respondents in the US by jobfinding service Ziprecruiter journalism topped the list of ldquomost regrettedrdquo college degrees with 87 per cent journalism graduates saying they wish they had picked a different course or specialisation The study said the respondentsrsquo feelings about their college majors were strongly tied to their job and salary prospects after graduationIn another study conducted in India by Lokniti and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies CSDS in 2023 more than half of the 206 journalists surveyed said they had ldquocontemplated quitting their news media jobs altogetherrdquo and pursuing different careersThe study pointed to a ldquohigh level of dissatisfaction among journalists regarding their professionrdquo as well as a general acceptance of being ldquomore partisanrdquoIn the survey 73 per cent of the journalists surveyed said they believe that media houses favour one political partyFurther as many as 56 per cent said they were worried about losing their current new media job over their political leaning ideology or opinionsldquoIn the current political climate how many journalists will go out on a limb and ask the tough questions that need to be asked How many organisations will back up their reporters in such cases And when young people see this will they be inspired to join journalismrdquo questions Carol Andrade dean of St Paulrsquos Institute of Communication Education SPICEAndrade says enrolment numbers have been dipping since the pandemic but they are in no danger of shutting down the course SPICE has taught as small a batch as six students during the pandemic The priority she says will remain on imparting strong fundamentals in journalism to the students no matter how many of them there areThe blame for dwindling numbers Andrade adds is to be laid at the media industryrsquos door for creating a ldquohostilerdquo work environment with ever increasing work load while the pay remains low ldquoThere has never been a more important time for journalism in India but it is getting harder and harder to convince students that it is worth it when the work conditions are so hostile If I had a child in the family I too might tell them not to get into journalism nowrdquo she saysThe apprehension among youth over entering journalism is also in large part due to press freedom violations in the country says Kunal Majumder the India representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists an international press freedom group Majumder is also empanelled as visiting faculty at Jamia Millia Islamiarsquos Mass Communication Research Centre and has headed newsrooms at Tehelka DNA and Indian ExpressldquoIn the last decade journalism is no longer seen as a glamorous profession or one where you can do public good due to the growing number of challenges to journalistsrsquo safety and increasing press freedom violations in this country This has created a sense of apprehension among the younger generation about entering this fieldrdquo he saysIndia is ranked 159th in the 2024 edition of the world press freedom index of 180 nations published by Reporters Without BordersIn 2023 alone five journalists were killed and 226 others were targeted across India by state agencies nonstate political actors and criminals according to the India press freedom annual report by the India Freedom of Expression InitiativeSome might say journalism has always been a dangerous profession with bad pay and that it was pure idealism that drove the reporters of yore But even with this generation ideals are not the issue says P Sainath veteran journalist and adjunct faculty at the Asian College of Journalism ChennaildquoThe space to exercise idealism has been shrinking for the last 4050 years and dramatically so in the last 10 years Where are the role models in mainstream media now Everybody saw the election coverage this year We are crushing young peoplersquos idealismrdquo says SainathPoliticians slinging mud at journalists and using slurs for the profession in 201213 in the runup to the 2014 polls also left a mark on the national psyche says Koppikar ldquoThe ability of a journalist to hold authorities to accountability was devalued When certain career journalists ceded this space a large number of news people saw their profession be devalued toordquoAccording to Anjali Khosla assistant professor of journalism design at The New School University New York some of the issues that affect journalists in India are prevalent in the US as well ldquoThere is a mass consolidation of media and a lack of ability to find a business model for journalism since rise of social media Craig Newmark has been forever making up for Craigslist gutting newspaper classified ad income by giving millions to journalism programmes and educationrdquo she saysHere in India several established journalists have chosen to branch out and set up their own digital channels to publish news independently ldquoThey have an impressive number of followers and it looks like this format is disrupting the industry It shows that people appreciate credible content However there seems to be an unwillingness to pay for itrdquo says KoppikarAnd without a sustainable business model how can one continue to spend to produce good journalismMeanwhile with the growth of social media and the digital space a chunk of advertising pie has shifted there as well And with that comes the rise of the lsquonews influencerrsquordquo as Koppikar puts itldquoPeople with no journalistic training are making reels about current affairs with 90 per cent opinion and 10 per cent facts and are peddling these videos as lsquonewsrsquo Youngsters see these influencers rake in lakhs and think lsquowhy should I sit in class to learn journalism when I can just do thisrsquordquo she saysThe problem is not just a lack of factchecking but also poor curation of information says Koppikar ldquoOn social media all news looks equally important or unimportantrdquo A post about an Alisterrsquos celebration and another about heat stroke deaths for instance The job is a measured trained editor with experience is to put news in context for the readerYouTuber Dhruv Rathee who is being seen as a content creator of note especially after the 2024 elections says that he regards himself as a secondary source of news ldquoThe medium or format may have changed but traditional journalists are still as needed as ever Their job is to raise peoplersquos issues and hold the authorities to account I see myself as a YouTube educator Irsquom only the secondary source of news The primary source still remains the hardworking journalists on ground I hope people are encouraged to pursue both professions seeing my workrdquoIIMCrsquos Prof Anand Pradhan maintains that no matter the format formal training in the principles of journalism will make a big difference ldquoWithout proper training in fair transparent and balance reportage therersquos a danger of blurring lines between journalism and entertainmenthellip there is a risk of misinformation lack of accountability and sensationalism While independent journalism can thrive online formal training remains valuable for maintaining journalistic integrity and credibilityrdquo he saysNot everybody is sad to see Jschools lose participants though Swapan Dasgupta veteran journalist former Rajya Sabha MP and member of the BJP National Executive believes that journalism will survive whether or not Jschools do ldquoI think it has always been a niche professionmdashfor 1015 years there was some glamour attached to it but it wasnrsquot well paid Now technology has transferred and itrsquos all about YouTube and such platforms So itrsquos not as if it will cease to exist it will assume a new form And if the youth find it challenging then they are in the wrong profession It does put you in precarious situations and some level of danger is inbuilt into it As far as the political situation goes thank god for that The new journalist wants everything on a platter They donrsquot want to go through any kind of learning curve If you ask me all journalism schools should shut Learn the one language you want to report in and then join a newsroom You will learn everything you need to if you have an inquisitive mindrdquo he saysThere are some in the industry who believe that digital media and multimedia journalism are the future Shailaja Bajpai dean of the newly opened ThePrint School of Journalism says ldquoI donrsquot think itrsquos the death knell for journalism In fact I think itrsquos a really exciting time to be a journalist with all the multimedia opportunities Now you can write stories you can do podcasts you can have your own YouTube channelThePrint School of Journalismrsquos 17week online course costs R99000 ldquoThe first batch of 28 students started the course in May Itrsquos not an academic approach itrsquos entirely skillbased in this courserdquo says BajpaildquoItrsquos not the end of the road rather there are new paths opening up and we have to adapt to themrdquo she concludes24No of years reputed Bengaluru media institute IIJM ran journalism course before closing this month159Indiarsquos rank among 180 nations on the world press freedom index8737Journalism graduates in a US survey said they regret choosing this specialisation