Study Journalism Through Distance Education: Courses, Colleges & Fees

Last Updated on August 7, 2023 by Sidharth PS

Are you passionate about journalism? Do you want to build a decent career in this domain? If yes, this post will be of help to you. Here, I’ve compiled a list of best distance education journalism courses in India.

In this post, readers will find the following details – list of top journalism (distance education) courses, details about the course (duration, eligibility, fees, syllabus etc), admission process and more. In short, this post contains all the important details that you need to know about distance education journalism programs in India.

 

Before heading to the meat of the matter – best distance education journalism courses in India – let us take a close look at the domain of journalism. What is journalism all about? What is this sector like? What types of jobs are available in this sector? You will find answers to these questions in the next section. Let us start –

 

Journalism: Basic Details

In simple terms, journalism deals with the profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, publications, news websites or preparing news to be broadcast. In other words, it is the production and distribution of reports on events (present and past).

 

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind while talking about journalism? TV news? News readers? Well, TV news and news reading forms an integral part of journalism. But journalism is not limited to just these aspects! Journalism is like an umbrella, which houses sub-branches/sub-domains like news reading, broadcast technology, reporting, editing, marketing, photography etc.

 

Journalism plays an important role in our day to day lives! Good journalism is required to ensure good governance.

 

As I mentioned before, journalism primarily deals with the production and distribution of reports on current and past events. The audience consumes such reports in the form of news, debates, columns, articles, posts etc.

 

Let us consider an example – a cricket match. Reporters, journalists and photographers are known to cover an international cricket match. They produce the report and distribute it among the audience through relevant channels (TV, radio, newspapers, websites, apps, magazines etc).

 

Journalism is not just about news reading or writing! It covers different aspects such as – reporting, photography, editing, news reading, broadcast technology, new-media technology, print technology, investigative journalism etc.

 

So far, broadcast journalism has been quite popular in India (TV and radio). It is still very popular in our country. But new-media journalism is also growing at an amazing pace in India! New-media consists of aspects such as – websites, internet portals, apps and other internet-based entities. New-media has opened up another exciting channel for journalism! This channel has introduced another set of journalism-related job profiles.

 

Come, let us take a close look at distance education system of India. Here is everything you need to know about it –

 

Distance education in India

Distance education is quite popular among Indian students, working professionals and adults. Distance education system allows them to pursue/continue their higher studies in a flexible and time-saving manner!

 

For example – a housewife may resume her Bachelor’s Degree education through this program. The flexible timings will let her tackle academics and other duties efficiently. Similarly, a working professional may rely on distance education system to take care of his/her higher studies. He/she may pursue an MBA while continuing with his/her job!

 

That’s the beauty of distance education! Here are some of the major advantages of distance education/learning – opportunity to learn from one’s home, flexible timings, flexible assessment tests, affordable learning experience, opportunity to carry on with higher studies while doing job etc.

 

Let us check out the list of distance education journalism programs now. Here it is –

 

Journalism distance education courses in India

 

1 PG Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication

Name of the course: PGDJMC
Duration: 1 year
Eligibility criteria: Completed Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university/institute
Syllabus: Basics of journalism and mass communication, reporting, writing, editing, media ethics, media laws, broadcast journalism, online journalism etc

 

This course is well known as PGDJMC. It is a postgraduate level Diploma course. Candidates who have completed Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline are eligible to pursue this course. The course duration is 1 year. However, course duration may vary from one institute to another.

 

The program will train you in different areas of journalism and mass communication. Journalism is a part of mass communication. This program has been crafted keeping the needs of Bachelor’s Degree holders in mind. The program will train them in key areas of journalism and mass communication.

 

2 PG Diploma in Audio Programme Production

Name of the course: PGDAPP
Duration: 1 year
Eligibility criteria: Completed Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university/institute
Syllabus: Basics of broadcasting, basics of broadcast programming, production, presentation, recording, mixing, editing etc

 

This course is well known as PGDAAP. It is a postgraduate level Diploma course. Candidates who have completed Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline are eligible to pursue this course. The course duration is 1 year. The duration may vary from one college to another.

 

As the name suggests, this program deals with audio programme production. It primarily deals with audio related aspects of journalism and mass communication. This program has been crafted keeping the needs of broadcast journalism sector in mind. If you are passionate about radio channel (the medium of distribution), then this program will be of help to you.

 

The program deals with audio specific subjects such as – mixing, editing, broadcasting, production, presentation etc.

 

3 Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication

Name of the course: MAJMC
Duration: 2 years
Eligibility criteria: Completed Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university/institute
Syllabus: Basics of journalism and mass communication, reporting, writing, editing, media ethics, media laws, broadcast journalism, online journalism, print media, electronic media, digital media, advertising, marketing, PR, media studies etc

 

This program is well known as MAJMC. It is a Master’s Degree course. To be precise, it is a Master of Arts (MA) course. Candidates who have completed Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline are eligible to pursue this course.

 

The course duration is two years. As the name suggests, this program deals with various aspects of journalism and mass communication. If you have a flair for journalism, you may pursue this course after completing Bachelor’s Degree education.

 

4 Master of Journalism and Mass Communication

Name of the course: MJMC
Duration: 2 years
Eligibility criteria: Completed relevant Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university/institute
Syllabus: Basics of journalism and mass communication, reporting, writing, editing, media ethics, media laws, broadcast journalism, online journalism, print media, electronic media, digital media, advertising, marketing, PR, media studies etc

 

It is a Master’s Degree course. Candidates who have completed relevant Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline are eligible to pursue this course.

 

The course duration is two years. As the name suggests, this program deals with various aspects of journalism and mass communication. If you have a flair for journalism, you may pursue this course after completing Bachelor’s Degree education.

 

5 Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication

Name of the course: BJMC
Duration: 3 years
Eligibility criteria: Completed 12th standard or equivalent qualification
Syllabus: Basics of journalism and mass communication, reporting, writing, editing, media ethics, media laws, broadcast journalism, online journalism, print media, electronic media, digital media, advertising, marketing, PR, media studies etc

 

This course is well known as BJMC. It is a Bachelor’s Degree course. Looking from academic level’s point of view, this program falls under the undergraduate (UG) level.

 

Candidates who have passed 12th standard are eligible to pursue this course. The course duration is 3 years. After completing this course, one may build a decent career in journalism sector. A candidate may even go for higher studies and pursue journalism-specific subjects or other PG courses.

 

6 Certificate in Community Radio

Name of the course: CCR
Duration: 6 months
Eligibility criteria: Completed 12th standard
Syllabus: Basics of community radio, operating community radio, practical training etc

 

This is a basic certification program. On completing this course, a candidate will obtain a certificate of completion from relevant authority.

 

It can be compared to a short-term training program. This program primarily deals with various aspects of community radio broadcasting. If you are passionate about radio broadcasting, you may pursue this short-term training program.

 

The course duration is 6 months. Candidates who have passed 12th class are eligible to pursue this certification program.

 

Distance education colleges/universities

Do you want to pursue a journalism program through distance learning program. Here’s a list of relevant and useful colleges/universities for you –

  • IGNOU
  • Annamalai University
  • Mahatma Gandhi University
  • Punjab Technical University
  • Patna University
  • Nalanda Open University
  • Karnataka State Open University
  • Amity University
  • Periyar University
  • NS Open University

 

Admission process

Admission process may vary from one institute to another. Most of the reputed institutes follow merit based admission process. On the other hand, some institutes/universities carry out direct admission process (first come, first served process). Some other institutes have donation based admission system too.

 

Fees

  • PGDJMC: 10-90K INR per year.
  • PGDAPP: 10-90K INR per year.
  • MAJMC: 20-120K INR per year.
  • MJMC: 20-120K INR per year.
  • BJMC: 20-100K INR per year.
  • CCR: 5-20K INR.

 

Tuition fees depends upon factors such as – type of institute, scholarship status of the student, rating of the college, location of the college etc. It may vary from one college to another.

 

Career prospects

Journalism is a broad field. As I mentioned before, it forms an integral part of mass communication sector. As a result, journalism graduates have access to different types of job profiles and opportunities. Some of the notable job profiles include –

  • Reporter
  • Editor
  • News reader
  • Producer
  • Technical expert (broadcast)
  • Audio specialist
  • Photographer
  • Writer
  • Curator

 

Which role will I get after wrapping up journalism education, some of you may ask. Job profile depends upon the type of journalism course you pursue, its academic-level and specialization you chose. For example, if you want audio-related job in this sector, you may go for Audio programme production course! In short, this sector offers different types of job profiles and opportunities.

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