BA (Hons) JOURNALISM

Category I
[UG Programme for Bachelor in Journalism(Honours) degree in three years]

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE -1 (DSC-1) – :

CREDIT DISTRIBUTION, ELIGIBILITY AND PRE-REQUISITES OF THE COURSE

Course title Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-requisite

& Code course criteria of the course
Lecture Tutorial Practical/ (if any)
Practice
DSC 1: 4 3 0 1 Passed NIL
Introduction Class XII
to with
Journalism English

Learning Objectives

The Learning Objectives of this course are as follows:

• To understand what it takes to be a competent reporter and the problems that
journalists face in the media industry.
• To equip students to work as a cub-reporter in any news media organisation.

Learning outcomes

The Learning Outcomes of this course are as follows:

• By studying this course, students will be able to understand the nature of news and
the process of news transmission to the readers.
• Students will be able to write news stories and comprehend the role of the press in
a democratic society.

SYLLABUS OF DSC-1

UNIT – I (20 Hours)

UNIT I: Understanding News

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 • Meaning and definition of Journalism
• Ingredients of news
• News: meaning, definition, nature
• The news process: from the event to the reader (how news is carried from
event to reader)
• Hard news vs. Soft news
• Basic components of a news story
• Attribution, on-record, off-the record, embargo,
• Verification, balance, fairness, brevity, dateline, credit line and byline.
• Criteria for news worthiness, principles of news selection

UNIT – II ((20 Hours)

UNIT II: Historical Perspective and News Writing Skills
• Yellow journalism
• Penny press, tabloid press
• Language of news- Robert Gunning: Principles of clear writing
• Rudolf Flesch formula- skills to write news
• Organizing a news story, 5W’s and 1H, Inverted pyramid
• Use of archives, sources of news, use of internet

UNIT – III (20 Hours)

Unit III: Different mediums-a comparison
• Language and principles of writing on different media platforms
• Basic differences between print, electronic and online journalism
• Citizen Journalism

Practical component (if any) - Writing stories in the inverted pyramid format,
identifying the news values in news stories of different newspapers, identifying the
5W’s and 1 H in news stories, writing soft-news stories.

Essential/recommended readings-
1. Bruce D. Itule and Douglas A. Anderson. News writing and reporting for today’s
media. McGraw Hill Publication, 2000.

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2. George Rodmann. Mass Media in a Changing World. McGraw Hill Publication,
2007.
3. Carole Flemming and Emma Hemmingway. An Introduction to Journalism. Vistaar
Publications, 2006.
4. Richard Keeble. The Newspaper’s Handbook. Routledge Publication, 2006.

Suggestive readings-

1. M.L. Stein, Susan Paterno & R. Christopher Burnett. News writer’s Handbook: An
Introduction to Journalism. Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
2. Michael Ryan and James W. Tankard. Writing For Print And Digital Media. Mcgraw-
Hill College, 2004.
3. Helmut Kipphan. Handbook of Print Media. Springer, 2001.
4. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. Media Ethics: Truth, Fairness and Objectivity. Oxford
University Press, 2011.
5. Vincent F. Filak. Dynamics of News Reporting and Writing Foundational Skills for a
Digital Age. Sage Publications, Inc, 2021.
6. Robert Gunning. Techniques of Clear Writing. McGraw Hill Higher Education, 1968.
7. W. Richard Whitaker & Janet E. Ramsey & Ronald D. Smith. Media Writing: Print,
Broadcast, and Public Relations. Routledge, 2019.
8. Wynford Hicks, Adams Sally, Harriett Gilbert, Tim Holmes, Jane Bentley. Writing
for Journalists. Routledge, London, 2016.
9. John Hohenberg. The professional journalist: a guide to the practices and principles
of the news media. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1973.
10. M. V. Kamath. The Journalists Handbook. Vikas Publishing, New Delhi, 2009.

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

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 DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE – 2 (DSC-2): Introduction to Media and
Communication

CREDIT DISTRIBUTION, ELIGIBILITY AND PREREQUISITES OF THE COURSE

Course title & Credits Credit distribution of the Eligibility Pre-

Code course criteria requisite of
Lecture Tutorial Practical/ the course
Practice (if any)
DSC-2 4 3 1 0 Passed NIL
Introduction to Class XII
Media and with
Communication English

Learning Objectives

The Learning Objectives of this course are as follows:

• To facilitate a deep understanding of the role and influence of the media in an
individual’s life. It will help the student to critically perceive the effects of the media
use.
• To hone the communication skills.
• To help identify media’s communicative potential through everyday examples such
as mobile phone, television shows and other media use.
• To think retrospectively of media use and its effects through live and vibrant
examples from everyday experience.

Learning outcomes

The Learning Outcomes of this course are as follows:

• By studying this course, students will be able to understand the important aspects
of communication to help them get their messages across to public, essential in all
sectors of media.
• Students will be enabled to work in any sector/media organisation as a content
writer/communication consultant.

SYLLABUS OF DSC- 2

UNIT – I ((20 Hours)

UNIT I: Communication and Mass Communication
• Media and Everyday life

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 • Forms of Communication, Levels of Communication
• Mass Communication and its Process
• Normative Theories of the Press
• Media and the Public Sphere
• Four Models of Communication: transmission models, ritual or expressive
models, publicity model, reception model

UNIT – II ((20 Hours)

UNIT II: Mass Communication and Effects Paradigm
• Direct Effects; Mass Society Theory, Propaganda
• Limited Effects; Individual Difference Theory, Personal Influence Theory
• Digital influencers in the contemporary world

UNIT – III (20 Hours)

UNIT III: Cultural Effects and the Emergence of an Alternative Paradigm
• Cultural Effects: Agenda Setting
• Spiral of Silence, Cultivation Analysis
• Critique of the effects paradigm and emergence of alternative paradigm

Practical component (if any) - NIL

Essential/recommended readings-
1. Michael Ruffner and Michael Burgoon. Interpersonal Communication. New York,
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981. 21-34; 59-72
2. John Fiske. Introduction to Communication Studies. Routledge 1982. pp 138
3. Dennis Mc Quail. Mass Communication Theory. London, Sage, 2000. pp 111; 41-54;
121-133(fourth Edition)
4. Baran and Davis. Mass Communication Theory. Indian Edition, South West
Coengate Learning, 2006. pp 42-64; 7184; 148-153; 236-298
5. Kevin Williams. Understanding Media Theory. 2003. pp 168-188

Suggestive readings (if any)-

1. Robin Jeffrey. Cell Phone Nation: How Mobile Phones have Revolutionized
Business, Politics and Ordinary Life in India. New Delhi: Hachette, 2013.
2. Ravi Sundaram. ‘The Art of Rumour in the Age of Digital Reproduction’, The Hindu.
Posted 19 August, 2012, Updated 16 November 2021
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national//article60457070.ece

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3. Maya Ranganathan. ‘Commercial FM radio takes over Indian cities’, Indian Media In
A Globalised World. ed. Ranganathan, Maya, and Usha M. Rodrigues, SAGE
Publications India, 2010.
4. Sreya Mitra (2012) ‘The show of the millennium’: screening the big-money quiz
show and the Bollywood superstar, South Asian History and Culture, 3:4. 20 Sep
2012. pp 566-582
DOI: 10.1080/19472498.2012.720071
5. Little John, Stepehen, W and Foss, Karen, A. Encyclopedia of Communication
Theory. Sage Publications, Inc. 2009.
6. Narula, Uma. Communication Models. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd.,
New Delhi. 2022.
7. Neumann, Elisabeth Noelle. Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion--Our Social Skin.
University of Chicago Press; 2nd edition. 1993.
8. Perse, Elizabeth M.and Lambe, Jennifer. Media Effects and Society. Routledge.
2016.
9. Watson, James. Media Communication: An Introduction to Theory and Process.
Palgrave Macmillan. 2003.
10.Endo, Kaoru, Kurihara, Santoshi and Kamihigashi, Takashi (eds.) Reconstruction of
the Public Sphere in the Socially Mediated Age. Springer, Singapore. 2017.
11. Shohini Ghosh, “Inner and Outer Worlds of Emergent Television Cultures,” in No
Limits: Media Studies from India, Ed. Ravi Sundaram. New Delhi: Oxford (2013).

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

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 DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE– 3 (DSC-3): History of the Media

CREDIT DISTRIBUTION, ELIGIBILITY AND PRE-REQUISITES OF THE COURSE

Course Credits Credit distribution of the course Eligibility Pre-requisite

title & Lecture Tutorial Practical/ criteria of the course
Code Practice (if any)
DSC-3 4 3 0 1 Passed NIL
History of Class XII
the Media with
English

Learning Objectives

The Learning Objectives of this course are as follows:

• To help students attain familiarity with the historical evolution of the media.
• To contextualize the developments of the media and its role through political and
economic changes across the world.

Learning outcomes

The Learning Outcomes of this course are as follows:

• By studying this course, students will be able to assist any organisation in writing
historical aspects in an efficient manner.
• students will also get an opportunity to work as a researcher and place key
developments in media technologies across history.

SYLLABUS OF DSC-3

UNIT – I (20 Hours)

UNIT I: History of Print Media
• Print revolution and telegraph
• Yellow Journalism, Evolution of Press in United States and Great Britain
• History of the Press in India: Colonial Period, National Freedom Movement
• Gandhi and Ambedkar as Journalists and Communicators
• Emergency and Post Emergency Era

UNIT – II (20 Hours)

UNIT II: Beginnings of Sound Media
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 • The coming of Gramophone
• Early history of Radio in India
• Evolution of AIR Programming
• Patterns of State Control; the Demand for Autonomy
• FM: Radio Privatization

UNIT – III (20 Hours)

UNIT III: Visual Media
• The early years of Photography and Cinema
• The coming of Television and the State’s Development Agenda
• Commercialization of Programming (1980s)
• Invasion from the Skies: The coming of transnational television (1990s)
• Formation of Prasar Bharati

Practical component (if any) –

A comparative study of a Community Radio project and any of AIR’s Local Radio
stations. Projects such as case studies of radio programmes, tracing the
transformation of certain traditional musical genres like devotional music, ghazals and
folk songs with the advent of cassette technology, presentations on the importance of
archiving and archives of films, newspapers, music and photographs as well as projects
on digital archives of sound and visual media.

Essential/recommended readings-
1. Briggs, A and Burke, P. Social History of Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet.
Polity Press, 2010. Chapter 2 and Chapter 5
2. Jeffrey, Robin. India’s News Paper Revolution: Capitalism, Politics and the Indian
Language Press. New Delhi: Oxford, 2003.
3. David Page and William Crawley. Satellites Over South Asia. Sage, 2001. Chapter 2,
chapter 8 and Chapter 9
4. Erik Barnouw and Krishnaswamy. "Beginnings," & "Three Get Started", Indian Film.
New York: Oxford University press, 192nd Edition, 1980
Early communication system in India (part - I) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v:9WocwNyyo8g

Suggestive readings-
1. Jeffrey, Robin. "Communications and capitalism in India, 1750–2010." South Asia:
Journal of South Asian Studies 25, no. 2 (2002): 61-75.

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2. V. Ratnamala, Ambedkar and media, 2012
http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option:com_content&view:article&id:4992:a
mbedkar-and-media&catid:119:feature&Itemid:132
3. Manuel, Peter. Cassette Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993, Pages
1- 32
4. Satellite Television: An Impact on Social Participation, Sabharwal, Tarjeet, ISBN
978-81-8457-064-9, Kanishka Publishers, 2008
5. Chatterjee, P.C, Broadcasting in India page (New Delhi, Sage, 1991) pp 39-57
6. Neurath P. “Radio Farm Forum as a Tool of Change in Indian Villages,” Economic
Development of Cultural Change, vol 10, No. 3 (pp 275-283), 1962
7. Das, Biswajit, “Mediating Modernity: Colonial Discourse and Radio Broadcasting in
India”, Communication Processes Vol 1: Media and Mediation, B. Bel, B. Das, J.
Brower, Vibhodh Parthasarthi, G. Poitevin (Ed.) (Sage 2005)
8. Parthasarthi, Vibhodh, “Constructing a New Media Market: Merchandising the
Talking Machine”, Communication Processes Vol 1: Media and Mediation, B. Bel, B.
Das, J. Brower, Vibhodh Parthasarthi, G. Poitevin (Ed.), Sage 2005
9. Thirumal, P., and C. Lalrozami. Modern Mizoram: History, Culture, Poetics. Taylor &
Francis, 2018. Chapter 1
10. Francis Robinson. “Technology and Religious change: Islam and the impact of
Print”, Modern Asian Studies. Vol 27, No. 1 (Feb 1993) pp. 229-251.
11. Seminar Issue October 1997, Indian Language Press
12. Neyazi, Taberez Ahmed, and Akio Tanabe. "Introduction: democratic
transformation and the vernacular public arena in India", Democratic Transformation
and the Vernacular Public Arena in India, pp. 17-40. Routledge, 2014.
13. Maya Ranganathan, “The Pan Tamil rhetoric in regional media”, Indian Media In
A Globalised World. ed. Ranganathan, Maya, and Usha M. Rodrigues, SAGE
Publications India, 2010. pp 83-105
14. G.N.S Raghavan, Early years of PTI, PTI story: Origin and Growth of Indian Press
(Bombay, Press Trust of India, 1987. pp 92-119
15. Melissa Butcher. Transnational Television, Cultural Identity and Change. New
Delhi, Sage, 2003. 49-77
16. Cappon, Rene, J. The Associated Press Guide to News Writing, 4th Edition.
Peterson's; 4th edition, 2019.
17. Sheridan, Lynette Burns. Understanding Journalism. SAGE Publications Ltd;
Second edition, 2012.
18. Rudin, Richard and Ibbotson, Trevor. Introduction to Journalism: Essential
techniques and background knowledge. Routledge, 1st Edition, 2002.

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

Branch, University of Delhi, from time to time.

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