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Journalism Education in India: The Widening Gap Between

Research and Practice

Article in Asia Pacific Media Educator · November 2020

DOI: 10.1177/1326365X20970419

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Aditya Sinha Debabrata Basu

Bihar Agricultural University Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
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Academic Paper

Journalism Education Asia Pacific Media Educator

1–11
in India: The Widening © 2020 University of
Wollongong, Australia
Gap Between Research Reprints and permissions:
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and Practice DOI: 10.1177/1326365X20970419
journals.sagepub.com/home/ame

Aditya Sinha1 and

Debabrata Basu2

Abstract
This article is based on reviews of studies in the field of journalism education in
India after the proliferation of the Internet, particularly after the year 2010. The
journalism practices have undergone a significant change in the past two decades,
with the enabling of new information technologies, resulting in increased feedback
from the audiences as well as globalized education opportunities for the content
creators. The article is based on the content analysis, using grounded theory as the
qualitative research method, to identify various themes in journalism researches,
from Indian universities during the same period. The implications of the results
suggest that there is a wide gap between the research conducted in the educational
institutions and the prevailing pattern in the journalism industry in the country.

Keywords
Globalization, journalism research, journalism education, India

Introduction
The Punjab University of Lahore was the first in the Indian subcontinent to offer
postgraduate courses in the field of Journalism in the pre-Independence era. After
the independence, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism,
Bhopal, was established in 1990 to cater to the educational needs in journalism.

Department of Extension Education, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India.
1

2
Department of Agricultural Extension, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia,
West Bengal, India.

Corresponding author:
Aditya Sinha, Department of Extension Education, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural
University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar 813210, India.
E-mail: inc.aditya@gmail.com
2 Asia Pacific Media Educator

Thus, the history of journalism education in the country is not too old and still in
the nascent age comprising around 60 years of existence. The knowledge in the
field of journalism, mass communication and media communication have not yet
received adequate attention from both the administrators and the stakeholders.
Currently, the country is imparting education in journalism through general
universities and agricultural universities. The agricultural universities train
students in the field of agricultural journalism at the graduate and postgraduate
levels in which over 10,000 students are trained each year. The training is in areas
related to interpreting newspapers, writing columns, editing news articles,
advertising, creating farm folders, leaflets, farm community radio, video-recording
content, designing and related aspects. The universities have the necessary
infrastructure in the form of electronic media production centres to impart skills
required to the students. Also, there is a specialized branch in agriculture related
to farm journalism, which is utilized as the necessary workforce in most of the
universities (Parihar, 2012). The rapid growth of print and electronic media in
the current decade has provided an ample opportunity for the students to enter the
field. As per an estimate, there are over 500 news channels, 400 FM/community
radio channels, 1,000 newspapers and magazines in the country, while there is a
growing trend of citizen journalism on YouTube (Singh, 2015). There has been a
rapid increase in the popularity of online content. There has been a phenomenal
increase in the number of YouTube channels with over one million subscribers,
which has grown exponentially from a mere 16 in 2015 to over 1,200 in 2019
(Babu, 2019). This growing trend has invited the Interest of several private
institutions and media houses to enter the journalism education sector. It has
transformed it into a growing discipline in the prevailing academic conditions.
Media education has intrigued the minds of the college goers who are interested
in media, communication, animation and related subjects. The growth of
journalism education is of immense importance in a country like India with
diverse cultural, religious, linguistic and local affairs. While countries like the
USA under the first amendment explicitly guarantees the freedom of the press,
such a guarantee under the constitutional set-up still lacks in India. However, the
Supreme Court of India, in its successive judgements, has hailed the freedom of
the press. Still, there is a long way to go in the framing of specific regulations in
the sector for its proper growth and functioning.
The primary concern surrounding the growth of journalism education in the
country is the lack of regulations and oversight in the sector. The lack of a
consistent course curriculum is also an impeding factor where the revision of the
course is rarely made, making the curriculum look outdated and not suitable for
the current-age journalism. The lack of industry collaboration has also affected
the growth of the sector where education and on-job work do not go together at
times. This leads to the development of a void between the job and the students
enrolled in the course. The lack of quality human resources, concerns towards the
socio-economic set-up and adaptation to the technology are also serious challenges
that need to be catered to explore the journalism education in a holistic manner
(Muppidi, 2006).
Sinha and Basu 3

Need for the Study/Research Gaps

A significant problem associated with journalism education in the country is the
lack of professional symbiosis between the educators, media professionals and
policymakers towards providing the impetus towards making the linkage
purposeful and sustainable. The improvement of the qualitative learning methods
imparted in journalism education needs to be strengthened to usher in a new era
in journalism that would match the current trends in journalism with the education
imparted. The learning methods need continuous change to match the prevailing
media effects. The trainers should also be conferred with quality training for
adequately meeting the standards of education. The intermingling of journalism
with interdisciplinary subjects such as data sciences, humanities and agriculture
will lead to the growth of the discipline with different brains working together in
different verticals. The thrust on skill-based exercises is also necessary to withhold
the interest of the students in this sector. The ever-changing use of media and
animation in the creation of videos to impart quality educational content is much
needed in the sector to exploit the preferences of the current generation. The
qualitative theories in journalism education need revamping, keeping the Indian
context in view. This would help in going a long way towards evaluating the
effects of journalism education in the current scenario with little dependence on
the theories, which are irrelevant in the present times.

Literature Review
The journalism education has led to a continuous change worldwide in which the
subject area is broadly changing to suit the context of the recent trends encountered
in imparting knowledge to the students. The focus of journalism education in
India has been mainly on editorial and reporting skills. The growth could be
divided into areas like news and current affairs and journalism for entertainment
content. This has led to the emergence of a separate trait, which calls whether the
focus is more on entertainment rather than the actual news content (Bharthur,
2017). Katz and Crocker (2015) studied selfie as a new form of visual
communication. It opined that the blend of quantitative measures with the
qualitative interpretations could help answer the questions related to selfie as a
new form of visual communication from an ethnographic perspective. This is
quite evident since the practices about expressing oneself are continuously
changing in this social media age. It is rightly stated that the modern methods in
providing customized advertising practices with different presentation formats
may confuse the end-users with the difference between a sponsored material and
native content (Evans & Park, 2015; Wojdynski, 2016).
The rapid application of technology, especially the internet, has led to the easy
access and sharing of news globally. This new phenomenon in the current decade
is coupled with economic and social costs. The transformation of investigative
journalism from a single newsroom environment to a collaborative practice like
the establishment of multiple teams in different countries for a global exposure
4 Asia Pacific Media Educator

needs the necessary change in the methods in which things are practised (Carson
& Farhall, 2018). The elaboration of those mixed methods applied in such
investigative journalism in the Indian context would lead to a better stake of
Indian journalism practices on the global map. Indian academic institutions need
to accept the challenge in imparting such education, which leads to the change in
theories grounded to the context of the nation. The rise of populism in attracting
voters has been studied in great depth in foreign countries. Such studies are of
immense importance in the country to streamline the ideological spectrum of the
different political candidates along with the populist measures adopted by them to
influence the voters. The rise of social media use for politics needs to be studied
to observe the pattern of support and the content spread of social media channels
(Groshek & Koc-Michalska, 2017).
Recently, education in journalism and mass media has witnessed a giant leap
in demand with the proliferation of private channels and media networks
throughout the country. The market could be sustained with the imparting of
quality industry-oriented education. Still, there has been a rapid shift in the
postgraduate specialization, which is now being offered as undergraduate
specialization. Also, the level of courses needs a revamping to tie up closely with
each other. The duration and overall quality of education provided must face
changes to fit the existing needs urgently. There should be an integration between
the theoretical courses and courses entirely based on hands-on training. There is
no formal professional body in the country that would provide an insight into the
functioning of higher education in journalism (Muppidi, 2008). To sum up, the
private and government universities and institutes must emphasize empowering
the students to build their analytical skills, providing awareness of various socio-
economic, cultural and economic problems surrounding their situations. The
necessary skills and training based on the current needs of the industry must be
inculcated among the students so that they can contribute in a better way in the
current scenario, where social media- and technology-enabled contents play a
major role to promote better educational and training environment (Sahoo &
Srivastava, 2017; Thomas, 2010).

Methodology
The method involved in the study is mainly quantitative study, utilizing word
frequency analysis along with grounded theory. The grounded theory uses a
qualitative exploratory approach based on a systematic review of the scenario
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The method of concept explication devised by Chaffee
(1991) is also utilized in the analysis of issues that are still emerging and are at a
nascent stage. The relevant literature was identified, and dimensions concerning it
were identified with a brief description of the related phrase/subject area. The text
analysis was performed using an open-source platform, namely Voyant Tools
(Miller, 2018).
Sinha and Basu 5

Research Questions
RQ1: What are the research themes for journalism research in India from the
year 2000 to 2019 in universities imparting graduate and postgraduate
programmes in journalism?
RQ2: What are the key themes in the journalism industry during the years
from 2018 to 2019 identified through tweet analysis from prominent
media houses?
RQ3: What are the gaps between journalism education and the recent patterns
observed in the journalism industry using the qualitative analysis?

Suitable phrases were searched using the assertions ‘journalism education’ OR

‘India’ from the year 2000 to 2019 on Google Scholar. The search yielded several
‘peer-reviewed’ articles, which were then refined, keeping only Scopus publica-
tions in the database to improve the quality of the research. The publication agen-
cies comprising the list were Taylor and Francis Group, Wiley, Springer, Emerald,
SAGE, etc. A total of 61 cases were finally used in the analysis in the final data-
base. The research conducted at both masters and doctoral levels were included in
the study. Non-English language articles and articles which did not contain an
explicit description of journalism education in India were eliminated.
In the second phase for the analysis of themes in the journalism industry, the
tweets from prominent media houses in the country from the year 2018 to 2019
acted as the source, which was categorized in different groups to understand the
subject area associated with it.
The extensive use of Twitter by the prominent newsrooms along with hashtags
for the headlines is a common trend that requires viewers to reply to the tweet
and participate with greater interactivity (Armstrong & Gao, 2010; Palser, 2009).
Of late, the news organizations have rapidly adapted to the usage of Twitter to
break the latest news and engage with the viewers utilizing the hashtag trend.
Thus, the prominent media houses in the country were purposively selected for
the study, namely The Times of India, India Today, The Hindu, Hindustan Times,
and New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV). The database of tweets for 2 years
(2018–2019) was taken to avoid overwhelming content. The associated Twitter
handles were identified, and the coding of all tweets along with the links
contained within those tweets to text-only stories, videos and other information
for coding. The two authors of this article conducted the coding and also tallied
the topic of the tweet (Krippendorff’s alpha = 0.79). While this approach did not
represent a generalizable sample in every possible way, it was deliberately
chosen by the researcher to generate a broad range of thematic areas related to
the subject matter under study.

Identification of Sources
To answer the first research question, a total of 61 articles defining journalism
education were identified across 118 sources. Each source was checked to have
6 Asia Pacific Media Educator

originated in the Scopus database in the Communications domain. Other sources

of information that were not indexed were suitably associated with some
university/institute in the country to ascertain its validity in the study. To answer
the second research question, the tweets from the media houses, as explained in
the previous heading, were used for the analysis.

Results and Discussion

The synoptic overview of the subject area was observed through the development
of the word cloud of the words used in the abstracts of the 61 articles (Figure 1).
The word cloud provides a concise view of the most frequently occurring words
in the corpus or document. Thus, it provides a convenient (tough reductive) view
of the content. The features include the term frequencies as well as integration
with other tools (Sinclair & Rockwell, 2019). The corpus of the material comprised
7,668 words and 571 unique word forms. The vocabulary density is the ratio of
the number of words in the document to the number of uncommon words in the
entire record, which is 0.447, with an average of 26.60 words per sentence. The
low vocabulary density signifies complex text with a higher proportion of unique
words. The most frequently used words in the corpus were media (156); journalism
(114); India (96); news (78); and social (60).
In order to address the first research question, the assertions were suitably
coded and categorized, using the grounded theory approach, to identify the various

Figure 1. Word Cloud of the Words Used in the Abstract of the Selected Articles
Source: The authors.
Sinha and Basu 7

Figure 2. Representation of Different Subject Area/Theme Used in Journalism Education

Source: The authors.

thematic area/subject area of the phrase/abstract. Some of the content expressing

multiple subject areas/themes were categorized and analysed concerning hybrid
statements. The results are discussed in Figure 2.
The various categories in which the subject area/theme was studied in
journalism education comprised local and community journalism, political
journalism, media journalism, film journalism, sports journalism, business and
trade journalism, travel journalism, science journalism, environmental journalism
and arts journalism (Figure 2). These themes are consistent with and add to areas
identified by the Open School of Journalism (2019).
To study the themes in the journalism industry from the year 2018 to 2019 as
mentioned in the Research Question 2, the themes of journalism were identified
using tweet analysis from media houses. A total of 9,884 tweets were identified
containing an underlying story, and the content was further coded to identify the
thematic area associated with the story. The analysis of the tweets brought together
12 thematic areas, which were political journalism, data/measurable journalism,
brand journalism, business and trade journalism, film journalism, sports journalism,
local and community journalism, investigative journalism, disaster journalism,
science journalism, environmental journalism and arts journalism. The specific
contribution of the thematic areas in the journalism industry is depicted in Figure 3.
The figure shows that new regions of journalism, which are data/measurable
journalism, brand journalism, investigative journalism and disaster journalism,
have made a significant contribution to the journalism industry in recent years.
The earlier analysis concerning the first and second research questions paves
the way forward for the third research question, which deals with the identification
of gaps between journalism education and the recent patterns in the journalism
industry. The data suggest that the journalism education curriculum in the country
8 Asia Pacific Media Educator

Figure 3. Representation of Different Subject Area/Theme Used in the Journalism

Industry
Source: The authors.

has failed to identify the emerging fields of journalism as practised in the current
times by the journalism industry.
The emerging fields like data/measurable journalism use continuous interaction
with interdisciplinary fields. In other words, it requires a constant examination of
the emerging practices not just within organizations but also at inter-institutional
level with the mapping of the computational journalism field. The data journalists
of this kind should necessarily have data-related skills. This new skill set should
be a part of every journalist’s toolkit in recent times so that it helps in the
identification of uncovered trends. It also helps in the better explanation of the
results (Fink & Anderson, 2015). Another area of importance lacking in journalism
education in the country is brand journalism. It has emerged as a new model for
strategic communication. It has helped the brands to engage powerfully with the
contemporary consumer. It is a practical way in which the brand reaches the
individual customers who feel respected and engaged with the brand. Also, it
provides for the development of customer values and behaviours (Light, 2014).
The globalization and rapid growth of multinationals have brought exciting
opportunities in the brand journalism sector, which has been neglected in the
journalism curriculum largely.
Investigative journalism is another field of inquiry that deserves immediate
attention in the context of journalism education in the country. It necessarily
requires the exploration of information with the efforts of the concerned journalist,
and the information so obtained must be of relevance to the general public
(Waisbord, 2000; Yusha’u, 2009). It is an important pillar to ascertain the value of
justice and bring out the difference between right and wrong, innocence and
Sinha and Basu 9

analysing the complete case under the supervision of the investigation from the
journalist (Ettema & Glasser, 1988).
The importance of disaster journalism could be adequately understood in times
of crisis, where proper communication needs to be ascertained to provide authentic
and accurate warnings to the citizens. Wenger and Quarantelli (1989) reported
that a majority of the media outlets neither have adequate plans nor do they
provide staff training to cover major public health emergencies. This shows that
the inability to communicate effectively during the period of crisis is not taken
care of by the media industries. As such, the integration of disaster communication
in the course curriculum would help in the streamlining of the efforts needed to
effectively meet the requirements of journalistic values during the times of a
crisis. This would help to provide the correct information to the general public,
along with the avoidance of panic and casualty.

Conclusion
The current digital age where information could be created and shared in no time
requires new ways to develop responsible journalists in a variety of areas, which
have emerged as the new trendsetters in journalism. The latest advances in the
field of journalism such as data journalism, brand journalism, investigative
journalism and disaster/crisis journalism need specific attention from the educators
and curriculum designers to provide a suitable place in the research activities of
the students. The data journalism requires particular attention since it can answer
the rapidly changing scenario with concrete evidence. It is also of importance
since journalism education is generally considered to be a dry subject with little
scope for advanced calculations. The field of data journalism will empower
journalists with numbers and data to interpret the situation more pragmatically.
Also, it would lead to the holistic integration of other interdisciplinary subjects
with journalism, resulting in the growth and development of the discipline on the
whole. The current Internet age requires the rapid combination of journalism with
other subjects for creating highly motivated and trained professionals who could
provide a new dimension to the industry. It is of utmost importance that the
stakeholders of journalism education must be provided with the professional
knowledge of high standards, keeping in view the trends in journalism study
throughout the globe. Also, there is a need to impart the necessary skills for the
students to meet the current market and demand. There must be a holistic
integration with theoretical knowledge and skill set based on the requirements of
the digital age. The course curriculum and changes in the syllabus to integrate the
academic environment with competent faculty members should also be taken into
due consideration. The provision of journalism education on an interdisciplinary
basis will further lead to the development of the sector with the integration of
innovations in teaching and learning scenarios. It will also provide the student
with a broad basket of choice after the completion of the degree. Students and
faculty members should be encouraged to participate in special lectures and
10 Asia Pacific Media Educator

training programmes throughout the country to brush up their skills and keep pace
with the changing trends of the industry. The publications in journalism should
further be updated in the Indian context to suit the socio-economic and cultural
factors of the country to provide a better framework for field-based inquiry in the
coming years. The limitations of this study mainly include the methods in which
themes were generated and the relative importance assigned to it. An attempt was
made to include all relevant academic and professional articles that are crucial to
the subject matter under study, but it might not yield an exhaustive list. Since the
field is rapidly evolving, continuous assessment through similar studies would
help in the development of more nuanced understanding in this field.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of
this article.

ORCID iD
Aditya Sinha https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5193-9048

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Authors’ bio-sketch
Aditya Sinha is an assistant professor in the Department of Extension Education
at Bihar Agricultural University, India. His research interests include, but are not
limited to, technology in education and media and communication studies.

Debabrata Basu is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Extension at

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, India. His areas of research include
Social network analysis, Indigenous technical knowledge system, and allied areas
of extension science.

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