best career options in mass communication
Best Career Options in Mass Communication
Mass communication is one such field, which has seen a steep rise since its start. As the world comes closer every day, the need to share and keep each other informed also increases. This has created a huge demand for jobs in this field. If you are a student of mass communication, here are some of the best options for you.
"Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language."
― Walt Disney
As the world is in a constant revolution to bring its people closer and reach a wider populace, it has opened myriad job opportunities. The constant need to collect information and spread it across to hungry recipients has created several new opportunities in the field of mass communication. This field covers a large area of work, which is primarily associated with dispensing information through modes of communication.
Interestingly, mass communication offers jobs in the government as well as private and public sectors. For making a career in mass communication, one cannot just stumble upon it. It takes years of hard work, dedication, and commitment to get yourself a substantial job. This field is driven by work culture which is extremely deadline-oriented. Hence, it demands individuals who are ready to work through the toughest of pressures with a cool and composed demeanor. So, if you think you have it in you to deal with the cutthroat competition and scale heights of success, welcome to the offer that the world of mass communication is about to make to you.
✦ Print
Print journalism is the classic form of a career option in mass communication. To this day, it remains the most preferred career option for its enriching experience. Working with newspapers, magazines, periodicals, news service agencies, news websites, and tabloids are some of the options one can pursue in this field to build careers. The typical nature of work is working as a reporter, collecting news, and knowing what would make great news items. The other posts one can work for, with considerable experience, are editor, sub-editor, photographer, freelancer, columnist, correspondents, proofreaders, and news analysts.
Editor: The editor of a newspaper or magazine is responsible for editing articles, writing original articles, laying out the newspaper or magazine, and following the important leads for news stories.
Sub-editor: Sub-editors have to check all that is written for the newspaper or magazine. They have to check the matter for grammar, spelling, style, and tone before it goes online or gets published.
Photographer: A newspaper or magazine photographer can be a full-time employee or freelancer. The job essentially demands the candidate to get photographic evidence supporting the corresponding story.
Freelancer: A freelancer or stringer is a person who contributes to the newspaper or magazine on a project basis.
Columnist: A columnist is the person who writes opinion pieces for newspapers, magazines, or websites. He/she may have specialization areas, such as politics, spiritualism, sports, religion, fashion, and such other subjects.
Correspondents: A correspondent has to report and write new stories from ground zero.
Proofreaders: The quality check of a newspaper is done by the proofreader. Spelling, grammar, style, photographs, illustrations, headings, page numbers, and other such details are checked by the proofreader.
✦ Broadcast
The aspect of broadcasting has played an important role in pushing mass communication on a bigger platform. It introduced a new dimension of an electronic medium, bringing many new career opportunities for its aspirants. To work for any form of electronic journalism, it is important to have a complete understanding of its technical know-how, pressures of work culture, and the purpose of such a job. The typical jobs under electronic journalism include working for a radio as a jockey, news anchor, jobs involving editing, sound engineering, scriptwriting, and graphics. The exponential growth in TV networks and satellite communication has opened a whole new array of jobs.
Radio Jockey: A radio jockey has to create entertaining interactions with the audience. This may include creating content, interviewing guests on the show, impromptu edits to the script, and complete understanding of the electronic consoles used in the studio room.
News Anchor: News anchors are the journalists we see on television. A news anchor's primary job is to read the news, but they may also have to interview the guests and be updated with the latest news and events happening around the world. A news anchor may also have to present a live story being delivered by a correspondent.
Broadcast Editor: A broadcast editor is responsible for editing videos and putting them together with the required audio tracks. The job also includes complete understanding of the news item, to be able to put together the videos sequentially.
Sound Technician: Sound technicians play an important role of enhancing the news item with the technical equipment. They have to maintain the equipment, amplify the sound, mix or change the tone, or reproduce the sound.
Scriptwriter: A news scriptwriter has to know the facts perfectly. The job demands writing crisp news items that are delivered as the event has occurred. This kind of scriptwriting is different from writing for films, TV commercials, or soap operas.
✦ Web
Web or online journalism is the newest form of journalism with increasing number of options to build careers. This form of mass communication is quite nascent as compared to the others, which is why its facets have not yet been fully recognized. However, blogging, citizen journalism, and working as a freelance reporter or photographer for online media are some of the job options available in this sector.
Blog: Writing a blog is very similar to maintaining a diary. However, while trying to venture into the world of journalism as a blogger, one needs to develop an expertise in a subject.
Citizen Journalism: Citizen journalism is also known as alternative or activist form of journalism. It refers to collecting news and reporting, irrespective of existing media institutions.
Freelance Reporter/Photographer: Freelance reporters are present to fill any gaps in news coverage for online media, while freelance photographers sell their photos for online use, which serve the purpose of enhancing the story for the readers.
Director: The director of the film is like the captain of the ship. He is the creative driving force who actually makes the film.
Editor: A film or video editor is responsible for arranging the raw camera footage into a finished film that's ready for broadcasting.
Scriptwriter: Writing a script for films involves a very creative outlook. Scriptwriters are responsible for giving life to every facet of the film, such as characters, plot, time period, and look of the film.
Film Photographer: Film photographers work on the film sets and are responsible for taking stills for post-production of the film.
Light and Sound Engineer: The light and sound engineers have a very important role to play in filmmaking. They are responsible for operating the lighting and sound equipment on the set, setting the mood for the scenes, creating effects, and giving the audio-visual its character.
Client Servicing: A person designated to this post is responsible for interacting with the clients, understanding their needs, and sometimes, communicating the requirements to the technical and creative team.
Copywriter: The lines we listen to, or read in an advertisement are written by the copywriter. A copywriter is essentially responsible for giving the advertisement its words.
Scriptwriter: Being a scriptwriter for an advertisement is quite a challenging task. The writer has to be able to write just the right words, which will be conveyed to the audience in just a few seconds or a minute.
Public Relations Officer: The primary job of a public relations officer is to maintain and build a positive reputation for the company. The role also demands you to influence the opinion and behavior of potential clients.
Media Relations Officer: A media relations officer is responsible for representing the organization to the outside world and being the point of contact for all the media and press-related work. The person holding this post may also have to write press releases, monitor the news being sent outside, attend meetings, and think of ways to get more media coverage.
Community Relations Officer: A community relations officer is responsible for carrying out decided procedures and policies with an aim to build communities, such as a customer base. They are also held responsible for managing the full scope of activities, programs, and events. Such types of jobs opportunities are usually seen in schools, colleges, and other institutions.
Employee Relations Officer: An employee relations officer is known to look after all the communication that may occur between employees and the management. They play a key role in ensuring smooth functioning of operations, by maintaining peace between the two major contributors of an organization.
Marketing Communications Officer: The marketing communications officer in an organization works in tandem with the PR and communications manager to develop a marketing strategy.
Event Manager: An event manager is responsible for looking after the operations of company events. The person at this position also has to handle production of events, from its conception to creation.
Fundraising: Fundraising is a part of public relations. It is a job which includes looking for sponsors, convincing them, and raising money for the required cause.
Social Media Manager: As the term suggests, a social media manager has to manage the social media properties of a given organization. This could mean providing content for these platforms and devising ways to keep them growing.
Graphic Desginer: A graphic designer of a social media team has to come up with graphics for the relevant postings on the sites. Visual gratification plays a huge role in attracting and retaining users to social media pages. Thus, the role of a graphic designer comes with a huge responsibility.
Social Media Analyst: A social media analyst is the one who studies the growth or fall per month on the pages, the additions and subtractions in numbers, and searches for reasons for these happenings.