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"The past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future.”
- Marilyn Ferguson
The hour in which we make our choice of career, will be the most important hour of our life, for it will dictate and govern the way we live our lives. As such, it has to be the most considered decision of our lives. Today , as a nation we have moved away from the typecast mindset of choosing to be Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Educationists and even an MBA……we recognize and herald the new awakening to the plethora of career options being made available.
Media and Communication is one such field wherein the world has witnessed a phenomenal and unprecedented explosion in communication technology and media. The Media & Entertainment Industry in India is expected to reach Rs 1,457 billion by 2016 as per the FICCI-KPMG report. The industry achieved a growth of 12% in 2011 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15 percent over the next five years. The spends on leisure and entertainment are greater than the economic growth, this is a result of favorable demographics and increasing disposable incomes. The entertainment industry is booming with film production and their promotions. Marriages are big budget events for the blooming event management industry! All boundaries have been transcended, and the entire global community seems to have been brought together into one unified whole. And it is here that mass- communication, as a stream of study, and as a career, becomes so dynamic and enviable.
Media and Communication careers are not limited to journalism alone. To a great extent mass media is a modern reality which covers all aspects of human life. Careers in Media and Communication are not only high paying but also bring in a great deal of job satisfaction and expression of creativity. The students desirable of a career in this field have many options available to them by way of sub-streams in this realm. These are :
• Public Relations: a hugely popular and in-demand career these days, involves making a career out of your People Management skills. As a profession it has found its ground, finally.The PR arm is now more accountable in terms of the overall integrated marketing communication budget. The size of public relations industry in India may touch over USD 10 billion in the next couple of years. Currently, the sector size is estimated at USD 6 billion. Indian public relations (PR) sector is growing at an annual rate of 32 per cent and the trend would continue in the future, the survey said. The Assocham study stated that the corporates are
relying more on PR professionals for building their brand image.
•Advertising: If a creative bend of mind and good command over language are your forte, then you can weave magic with words and make ordinary brands sell like hot cakes. Advertising is one field that offers all the thrills with passion being the driving force alongwith fame and moolah.
•Journalism: It is the investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience about topics ranging from government and business organizations to cultural aspects of society such as arts and entertainment.
•Media planning: This is generally the task of a media agency and entails finding the most appropriate media platforms for a client's brand or product. The job of media planning involves several areas of expertise that the media planner uses to determine what the best combination of media is to achieve the given marketing campaign objectives.
•Event management: This involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, envisaging the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event. Post-event analysis and ensuring a return on investment have become significant drivers for the event industry. Like any career option, mass communication too has positive features as well as a flip side. A career in mass communication requires commitment, dedication and sacrifice of personal time for the sake of being top of the line. A journalist may have to work day in and day out to get breaking news.
Similarly, media professionals who are in entertainment or film making need to work with passion which may come at the cost of their personal time. However, in a nutshell, a career in media communication provides job satisfaction, name and fame and is highly challenging.
By
Prof. Ramola Kumar
Dean, The Delhi School of Communication