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In a world swamped with TRP ratings and seven-second sound bytes, is Print relevant any longer?

Mumbai alone has seen five new newspapers in the last couple of years. Add several niche magazines and you’ll realize that the written word has never been as relevant as it is today.

More than ever, newspaper professionals must consistently demonstrate the qualities of precision, accuracy, speed, fairness, understanding and public responsibility. Students of Print Journalism gain these skills through a blend of theoretical and practical courses and workshops.

Whether it is newspaper, or magazine journalism, students learn reporting, editing, page design and newsroom management. They use popular software to produce newspapers and magazines on a regular basis. The Institute seeks to prepare them to step into the nation’s newsrooms. Teaching methods include lectures, case studies, seminars with guest speakers, individual assignments and workshops.

The program will also incorporate the following core courses and electives.

Reporting and Writing - The course has three principal components: Beat reporting, deadline writing, and seminars. Each student is assigned a Bangalore city neighborhood as a beat and spends at least two days a week in that neighborhood. From this beat reporting news and feature stories evolve, tied to topics discussed in class. Students learn the rudiments of covering crime and courts, government and politics, social issues, health care, education and other subjects. Each week, students work on exercises under deadline conditions. In weekly sessions, instructors lead discussions on journalistic techniques and specific areas of content.

Tools of Journalism I & II - This course consists of two components: Training on software applications for publishing and news editing. Each of the two components is taught in two separate sessions through the entire semester. In the software applications class, students learn to use publishing tools such as Adobe Photoshop, PageMaker, QuarkXpress, CoralDraw, Dreamweaver and introduction to Flash. The use of computers as a design tool, applying the principles of graphics, design, and layout, will be a major focus.

The second component introduces students to doing research for reporting and writing. Students get to learn searching the Web for research material, and understand how to use various sites that provide information. Students also become familiar with Web-based database services and business data. News editing section introduces students to the practice and mechanics of editing, the selection of stories, news judgment and the writer-reporter relationship. (This course is required for print and web journalism students only)

Ethical and Legal Issues in Journalism - This course explores the social role of journalism and the journalist from legal, ethical and economic perspectives. The course examines the current and historic conflicts between journalists, government and the legal establishment. Issues such as libel, privacy, prior restraint against publishing the news, protection of sources, the right to gather news and national security are explored. Other issues include fairness in journalism and balanced reporting, and ethical considerations in the setting of the news agenda.

Advanced Newspaper Writer's Seminar - All postgraduate students in print and New Media are required to take this course. Students join faculty to critique award-winning journalism, while sharpening their skills in practical hands-on workshops.

Magazine Writing - Long-form narrative writings of the form that have appeared in major national and international magazines will be explored. What makes a magazine story different from newspaper reporting? Narrative energy, the story-telling voice, the shift from observation to insight and interviewing techniques are some of the discussion topics. All students with concentration in magazine publishing are required to take this course.

Advanced Magazine Writing & Editing - Students learn all the skills necessary for producing a long piece of work. These include how to interview for a magazine story, how to structure a long piece and how to sell the work to the editors. Students learn the editorial roles on a magazine - writing, editing, photo editing, copyediting, fact checking - in preparation for work in magazine journalism.

Advanced Writing & Editing - This course is designed to develop good writing and editing skills. Students learn to edit hard news and feature articles. By examining the critical issues of accuracy, balance, clarity and readability in a variety of contexts and styles, students will learn the essentials of line editing and organization skills. (This course is required for print and web journalism students only)

Digital Photo Journalism - This course teaches reporting with a camera. The class will learn photo-reporting for a newspaper as well as the photo essay that explores one subject at length. The technology of transferring the digital photo for the Web will also be studied.

Opinion and Editorial Writing - Students are introduced to editorials and opinions expressed in the media. The course teaches how the subject is chosen, formulated, and presented. The style of writing editorials and opinions is also covered.

Newspaper Workshop - Students produce an in-house newspaper several times during the semester. The entire class works as a team of reporters and editors, and do the layout under the supervision of an instructor. Depending on each student's area of specialization, he or she would pick topics such as crime, politics, religion, arts, education and others. The newspaper not only polishes the skills and prepares students for jobs but also helps them stretch and think in long-range terms.

Magazine Workshop - The class is required to create a prototype of a consumer magazine, selecting different areas of interest each time for a total of four issues. Students perform interviewing, writing, photo editing, copy-editing, fact checking, design and layout, all in preparation for a profession in magazine journalism. They also learn to write in a magazine voice, doing so in a range of story lengths and topics.