Studying journalism but won’t enter the profession!

Some years back, while still teaching business communication at Dhaka University, I had the chance to address a hall filled with young graduates on their way to the professional world.

At the event, several things struck me as odd.

While it has always been a tradition in Bangladesh to seek advice from seniors within the family and outside about education, career and other life related issues, the impracticality of the advice parted by some experts invited to speak at the event was hard to ignore.

Anyway, while reading a recent news article about three visiting Nepalese female journalists to Bangladesh, memories of the career address came back.

The visiting women journalists had an interaction with local counterparts from a leading daily, where, reportedly, the falling number of women in the profession was underlined.

Actually, it’s not just women!

A large number of young men and women studying journalism or communication, either at public or private universities, are not choosing the field related to their subject.

DRAWN TO THE DEGREE, NOT THE PROFESSION

At the career talk, when I asked how many were studying or had completed studies from journalism, about 20 hands -- from both men and women -- went up.

However, when asked how many wanted to pursue a career in journalism, there was pin-drop silence.

All hands firmly stayed down!

This aversion towards the profession was shocking and disquieting!

That the young were slowly losing interest in a challenging career was a known fact, but one was not prepared to see such stark disinclination.

Interestingly, I was invited to speak at the event not as a journalist but as the communications person working for a globally known multinational firm.

When asked why they were not interested, murmurs went around the room along with bashful laughter, which seemed more like an attempt to hide embarrassment.

The common perception was that the media industry demanded a lot but gave very little in return.

The initial salary package for a fresher is not appealing while society, still driven by conventional definitions of employment, struggles to recognise journalism as a proper profession.

It’s true that for a new face in the media industry, whether a paper, news agency or TV, the payment is not something to boast about but that’s been the trend for centuries.

As a newcomer myself back in the 90s, a media veteran, now deceased, said while sharing his fist days in the profession: “when we entered journalism, our first task was to learn how to make a refreshing cup of tea for the seniors.

If the senior was happy with the tea then s/he would happily show us how to improve the reporting, editing or feature writing.”

The pleasure and the reward from journalism can be compared to the manner in which an antibiotic works on an ailment: at first, one feels no reprieve from the condition but after five doses, a marked improvement can be felt.

An age old aphorism maybe more apt: medicine tastes bitter but the eventual impact is pleasant!

HONE THE SKILLS, LEARN THE CRAFT, TAKE A STRATEGIC APPROACH

Journalism never gives the reward in a few years, stick to it for 10 with dedication and you’ll see the results.

Note the word ‘dedication’ and think a little deeply!

In a slipshod approach, one goes on doing the routine work, day in day out, locked in banality.

Whereas a sincere approach means, studying, learning skills, improving language, taking training, emulating the best qualities of seniors and building networks.

The problem is, most current day youth want to touch the sky as soon as they are out of the campus.

The idea of starting with a pittance is not attractive as their minds hover around big corporate names.

Cannot blame them either because society has created an aura around certain organisations with the young feeling an invisible pressure to conform to a set template.

The truth is, if someone spends more than a decade in journalism, the pay becomes respectable, the reputation built in the profession opens doors for teaching and countless other part time work.

This is one profession, which readily allows someone to also pursue a side hack.

The invaluable journalism experience can create a lucrative career line into large multinationals, banks and, if we look at the current government, senior positions bringing accolades from all social circles.

In the post-August Bangladesh, the new government has given several national and international posts to people who were in the media profession.

Perhaps the modern day young will realise that nothing worth getting is possible without the basic hard work.

A common complaint by those studying journalism is that there aren’t enough jobs.

Actually, if someone just wants to finish a degree for the sake of getting a certificate the market is limited.

There is a perennial shortage of copy editors, analysts and writers, which means if a journalism student takes his/her studies seriously and learns the craft diligently, getting a job won’t be an uphill task.

If not in mainstream media then with the countless advertising and communication agencies.

Look at it this way: honing writing and copy editing will also prove to be a major advantage for the civil service examinations, which, understandably, remains the key target for a majority of graduates from public universities.

Irrespective of gender, graduates from journalism should not try to avoid the initial period of hardship because unless the skill is developed through on the field experience, career options from big companies will remain elusive.

To digress a bit: there is a despicable social habit of trying to link future success of a person to the subject s/he studies at university.

Consequently, people who are studying traditional subjects like History, Journalism, Bangla, English, are given the impression that their career options are limited.

In our obsession to get the ‘Bhalo Subject’ (acceptable subject), we are doing a disservice to several professions.

In a transformed Bangladesh, where journalism is free of a pernicious crony culture, young and ideal driven youth must take up the profession.

The media sector needs an injection of new blood, new ideas and innovative minds.

The implementation of several recommendations by the media commission may also see journalism graduates entering the profession.

[Towheed Feroze is a former journalist]