They came to lunch—and stayed for tea.
On 9 September, ThePrint’s New Delhi office was suddenly filled with loud voices, peals of laughter—and joy.
For a characteristically quiet place where heads are buried either in computers or mobile phones, this commotion created a stir: What on earth was going on?
Students from the first batch of ThePrint School of Journalism (TPSJ) had come visiting and they wanted everyone to know it. The school’s 15-week online course in journalism had just concluded and they were here to receive their Certificates of Completion.
They came from different parts of the country expressly for this purpose: Goa, Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and of course, NCR—Gurugram, NOIDA, and Delhi.
They came from varied backgrounds and age groups—ranging from approximately 22 years old to over 50. Some worked, some studied, some did both.
What they shared was a strong desire to visit ThePrint, explore its premises, meet journalists who had been part of their journey to Delhi, and soak in the atmosphere. Perhaps some of them imagined themselves to be journalists, hammering out a story…
I don’t know, but they walked around as if they belonged at ThePrint, pointing to individuals or locations in the office that they had seen in ThePrint videos—”Oh, isn’t that….?” some exclaimed, seeing a familiar face. They were really pleased to be here.
My colleagues and I were surprised and mildly amused: Why would anyone be so happy to come to the office?
They say you get third time lucky. But guess what? We struck luck with the first batch.
TPSJ is now ready to begin a second term with a fresh batch of students—a good time to look back at round one.
Fundamentals of journalism
As Dean of ThePrint School of Journalism, let me say a very big thank you to all of you in the first batch. And to everyone at ThePrint who worked to make this happen.
When we rolled out the first course in May 2024, we were nervous: None of us had conducted a live, online course in journalism before—few of us had taught at all.
Our aim was to offer students a unique approach to teaching: In the words of Shekhar Gupta, Founder, Editor-in-Chief, ThePrint, “The newsroom is the best classroom.”
Keeping that in mind, senior, practising journalists at ThePrint taught the first batch the fundamental principles of good journalism, based on the knowledge and experience they’d acquired over years of working in the field. All of this was interspersed with anecdotes and examples from their professional lives.
The feedback from the students says it was the right decision: By the end of three and a half months, many of them were well on their way to becoming cub reporters.
They had learnt that facts are sacrosanct and have to be verified, that sources must be reliable, that every story has a context, that reporting should be fair and neutral, and the writing, clear and accurate. They had learnt what made news and how to report it—and a lot more from Team ThePrint.
“I’ve learned how crucial it is to balance speed with accuracy, always sticking to the core principles of journalism—something I didn’t fully grasp before…,” said Ashutosh Gupta, one of the students, “The importance of presenting facts exactly as they are, without any manipulation. I knew this before, but now I understand how vital it is to make my audience aware of the truth.”
After the first month of classes, we breathed easy. The course was on course.
The syllabus and faculty aroused the students’ interest and they responded with enthusiasm, inexhaustible curiosity, and ceaseless questions that often pushed the sessions into overtime.
As for their lively talkathons on the WhatsApp group we had created for them, well, I’m not telling.
This was a smart batch of participants: During the sessions, they were attentive, well-informed and well-read.
“The class interactions were lively, (there were) some really smart questions, some of the questions really made me think about my craft,” said Rama Lakshmi, Opinion and Ground Reports Editor, who took several sessions on ground reporting with the students.
At the end of many classes, the WhatsApp group saw comments like “excellent session” and expressions of gratitude. That told me we were on the right track.
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Live sessions, guest speakers
The experience with the first batch endorsed our teaching model. The anecdotal evidence shared by journalists was far more valuable than book learning. And you won’t find it on Google either. A nose for news can’t be found on the whiteboards in classrooms—only a journalist can sniff out a story.
The decision to hold live and interactive sessions rather than offer students recorded, edited ones, contributed significantly to a better mentor-participant rapport. Just that “Good morning, everyone, how are you, today?” would break the ice.
“During the course, I had never felt that I was attending this course online. Everything was so seamless,” said Aditya Gotan, another student.
It also helped the journalists relax and be themselves. Students were able to ask questions in the middle of the lectures—an annoying habit sometimes, because it broke the flow of the presentation, but it also enlivened the sessions and allowed students to clarify doubts or get answers to issues on defence weapons, India’s north-eastern border, outer space, and a lot, lot more.
The content of each session was based on the journalist’s understanding of the subject. Each faculty member put together class material, mulled over it, changed it, and fought with it until it was good to go. What helped us here were the ‘dry runs’.
These were live practice sessions to iron out the delivery, the look, the sound, the PPTs—believe me, getting the right camera angle for each faculty and the perfect lighting took some doing by the video team.
And we were anxious about senior journalists instructing the students, that too on camera and live, for more than two hours. But you know what? They took to it like professional classroom professors.
“This was my first time teaching a full and formal course,” said Nisheeth Upadhyay, News Operations Editor, “but the students were dynamic and full of enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that was contagious. I had a lot of fun.”
Another successful idea was to invite guest experts to these interactions. And did we have some good ones: Former Army Chief Lt Gen Naravane, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, TMC’s Sushmita Dev, Samajwadi Party’s Ghanshyam Tiwari, psephologist and social activist Yogendra Yadav, economist Ila Patnaik, and health expert professor K Srinath Reddy, to name a few.
The students were genuinely excited to meet them—and intellectually stimulated. I’m sure their grey matter turned several shades darker just thinking up questions for the experts. “Faculty at TPSJ made it possible for us to connect with veteran journalists and credible voices that we wouldn’t have been able to approach on our own,” said Samreen Mushtaq Syed, from the first batch.
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All set for round two
It’s fair to say, the first course has gone very well.
However, there are several areas where we could have done better: Assignments are a key factor for students to apply what they’ve been taught. However, many students didn’t complete assignments—or submitted them late. For a faculty busy chasing news, deadlines for feedback were delayed.
Also, we need to tighten the belt a little—most classes ran into extra time, once by a full hour, and that’s unfair to those who left at the scheduled time.
We now plan to give more personalised and detailed feedback to individual students so that assignments become a tool of instruction, not just figures on a marksheet. And, perhaps the number of exercises needs to increase so that the students learn by practice rather than by example.
Going forward, more background material may help the students prepare for the lectures. And, should we share class notes? Not sure.
What’s certain is that we will improve the technical quality and offer more sophisticated graphics and presentations so that we’re not just talking at the students but employing visual tools while teaching.
Our first batch has contributed to these ideas with its feedback: “In future, I would like to join your domain-specific courses so that I can gain detailed knowledge,” said Apurw Gupta. Yes, Apurw, thinking of this.
What about an “apprenticeship”, asked several students. Well, we already offer a two-month internship to deserving students: Six students from the first batch will join us in the newsroom next month.
We are at the starting line of a new four-month session. I think it’s appropriate to leave you with the words of another student, Rajan Mishra: “[The course] … inspired many of us to pursue a career in journalism and contribute to this field. I hope this wonderful course will be a boon to many prospective students…”
Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views, complaints to readers.editor@theprint.in
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)