In the age of internet and Facebook groups, students on campus still look forward to the in-house newspaper for the latest dope on events, misdeeds and more. However, the publications which served as a platform for voicing political opinion and student-centric issues are diminishing fast due to the cost-cutting measures followed by the universities for printing and distribution.
In the age of social media, news gets circulated within a short span of time after an event happens. When asked whether campus community would be interested to read about a event in a monthly publication, S Ramu, visiting faculty at Department of Communication ,University of Hyderabad (UoH) says, “Social media has a lot of constraints in dealing with serious issues. It is by and large opinionated. Vigorous research and serious analysis, the two key components of journalism, are missing in social media. It is not an alternative to lab newspapers.”
Apart from helping students prune their skills, campus newspapers serves as a source of information to students and other communities in the campus.
Department of Communication and Journalism, Osmania University publishes a bimonthly newspaper titled Osmania Courier. “In Journalism lab, our students get to learn about the profession, society and skills which are needed to become a journalist,” says Professor B Balaswamy from the department. The newspaper commemorated 50 years of its registration as a campus newspaper in 2012. Before the dawn of electronic media, it was one of the main source of information for the campus community.
The department of communication at UoH publishes Dispatch, a monthly paper. Ramu added that by the the time they complete two semesters of training, most of the post graduate students are well prepared to take up jobs in the industry. The students also get to work on a theme-based yearly magazine, Vantage, where students go for a four-day field trip to collect stories.
“We deal with all kinds of events and issues in the campus, from politics to art and culture. The basic idea is to create a real-time environment for students where they can learn reporting and editing techniques in the class and showcase their work in lab newspapers. While learning, they can communicate to the university community as well. However, lab newspapers should be treated as an academic exercise,” adds S Ramu.
Campus newspapers work like a daily newspaper and students are in charge of all operations of the newspaper, right from selection of stories to distribution of their respective newspapers. “The teamwork required and deadlines imposed mean that one gets a taste of how a real newsroom works,” says Keshav Vivek of MA communication at UoH.
The training in newspaper publishing has many offshoots, Keshav adds “I am also trying to polish my travel writing skills, I Would love to attain a level where I can make a living off it.” Fatima, a student of second year M.A Communication and Journalism at Osmania University says, “When I work on stories for our campus newspaper, I get to meet people from various backgrounds and know their views and ideologies. Besides all these contacts will help me when I start working as a reporter.”
Apart from the universities offering post graduate courses, some colleges in the city offering bachelors in mass communication have a culture of publishing newsletters which range from monthlies to annual. Students of Bachelors in Mass Communication at St Marys, Yousufguda took the initiative of publishing a newsletter titled Vox Populi, which is published thrice a year. Joseph Christadoss, Head of Department of English and Mass Communication of the college says, “This is a way to encourage students to discover their ability, be it your writing skills or designing skills. Students take pride in publishing this newspaper.” He added that due to academic pressure, students cannot contribute to a monthly publication.
Bachelors students of St Francis Women’s College, Begumpet publishes a lab newspaper which covers events of the college’s Drushti Club. Ciny Annie Sunny, Head of Mass Communication Department informed that they are going to publish a monthly tabloid titled Curiocity for its masters students from this month.
