ThePrint starts its journalism course. The best J-school is the newsroom

The students are worried about the state of media in India and want to see good, fair, accurate journalism. That’s what attracted them to ThePrint School of Journalism.

Graphic: Soham Sen | ThePrint

How do you become a journalist?

I am often asked this question. The follow-up questions are, “Can you teach someone journalism? What’s there to teach?”

I have become accustomed to this line of inquiry since I have been teaching journalism for the last 15 years—in addition to my work as a journalist. Currently, I am a Professor of Practice (don’t you love the term?) at IILM University, Gurugram and Greater Noida. Before that, from 2009 to 2014, I worked as Dean and then Director of the Express Institute of Media Studies (EXIMS)—an initiative of the Express Group of Publications. And briefly, in 2018, I was Vice Dean at the School of Journalism, Jindal Global University, Sonipat.

And, honestly, there were days when I asked myself the very same question: what’s there to teach?

Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, ThePrint has an answer: “Journalism needs to be taught—it’s a specialised profession that requires training and techniques…It has its tools, tools that are in the mind…”

And what better way to acquire these “tools in the mind” than from professionals who use them every day—experienced journalists.

This is one of the primary reasons why we launched ThePrint School of Journalism (PSJ) in May 2024, with an inaugural three-month digital course. While speaking to participants at the first session of PSJ’s programme, Gupta said that journalism is “a craft” that constantly changes to respond to developments around it—such as in politics, economics, and especially in technology. To keep up with the challenges of change, we need to adapt and sharpen those “tools in the mind”—and that can only be done with practice, on the job.

With this in mind, the faculty at PSJ consists, exclusively, of journalists who have at least a decade of experience behind them, professionals who tweaked that toolkit as and when necessary.

“For so many years it’s in your DNA and suddenly, you need to upskill but also simplify what you do, in order to teach,” said Janki Dave, News Editor, who is teaching new media to PSJ’s first batch. “It’s a refresher course, for me—to explain why you do what you do.”

“I was nervous,” admitted Moushumi Das Gupta, Deputy Editor, who took the session on news reporting. “This is something I do every day—I go out and report. But to share what I know, the craft of work, that was new.”

“We hope that sharing our experiences on the job will help participants avoid making at least 50 per cent of the mistakes we did,” said Manasi Phadke, Deputy Editor, who spoke to participants on news writing.

This Readers’ Editor column tells you a little bit more about ThePrint’s latest initiative and why we have launched it.

Emphasis on practical skills

First, full disclosure: I am the dean of ThePrint School of Journalism.

Why did we decide to launch the school? Well, to begin with, we knew that journalism taught by professional journalists—the inspiration behind EXIMS launched at The Indian Express by Gupta—was a successful concept. Some of the brightest journalists today, attended EXIMS for an 11-month in-house diploma course. They interacted with professionals who know, from experience, what they are talking about—and practice what they teach. The same goes for PSJ.

Secondly, it’s about discovering young talent and training them in the fundamental skills of journalism, without putting them through a three-year BA Honours course. Gupta said, in his opening remarks to the participants, that learning the necessary skills for journalism doesn’t need so many years. “The best journalism school is the newsroom,” he said, “where you learn the basics quickly, editors share their experiences…” and then we put you to work.

Since I am working with students at the university level and PSJ, I see value in both: the BA Honours degree is a holistic grounding in a liberal arts education with Journalism as the major. It combines academic courses in politics, economics, psychology, etcetera with journalism skills.

At EXIMS and PSJ the emphasis is on skills and practical experience.

Why digital?

Another reason to begin an online digital journalism course was the need for good journalism. The current contested space in politics, society and the news media has lowered the standards of journalism, in general. Public opinion of journalism is hardly flattering, these days. For journalism to raise its head and restore public confidence, we need to inspire and teach good journalistic practices to young aspirants—the kind we try to practise at ThePrint.

“This is a great idea,” said Nisheeth Upadhyay, Editor, Operations who began the course with an introduction to journalism. “It takes our brand of journalism to people, in a new, innovative way.”

The participants in this course have confirmed my belief: they are worried about the state of journalism in India, across mediums; they want to see good, fair, accurate journalism. That’s what attracted many of them to ThePrint School of Journalism.

All this became compelling grounds to launch a digital online course. Why, you may ask, a digital course? For several reasons: one, ThePrint is a digital news organisation so our strength lies there—besides, that’s where the present and the future of journalism belongs.

Second, as Sharan Poovanna, Senior Associate Editor, said, keeping it digital allows the course to include a diverse range of people, even those outside India. “The reach is better, it’s not hyperlocal, so we can speak of larger contexts. The participants come from such varied backgrounds, hold such different views that it enriched what has been a fascinating experience,” he said, after his class on News Gathering.

This is true of PSJ: We had applications from outside India—USA, for example—and at least two participants have joined PSJ from Dubai. Within India, we have students from Assam, Goa, Punjab, a district in Maharashtra, besides the metro cities. And the age group ranges from early 20s to mid-40s.

A third reason for a digital course is that it saves the enormous expenses of relocation, hostels and settling into a new environment.

A school from scratch

It’s one thing to have many good reasons to launch a digital online course in journalism, it’s quite another to make it happen—especially when almost everyone who is working on this project, has no prior experience in teaching or in creating, developing and running a digital course.

“For me, it was very exciting to figure out how to do this from scratch—a terrific learning experience,” said Priyanjali Mitra, Lead, Editorial Engagement, who is part of the core team working on PSJ. “We had to and still have to think of every aspect of the course, every little detail—it’s not just about getting students into a classroom and holding a class.”

It’s about what we had to do before and after the classes. Quite literally, we had to invent PSJ and that has taken the combined efforts of all of ThePrint’s departments. The list of things to keep in mind is long—courses, syllabus, faculty, assignments, look and design of the website, marketing and promotion of the course, interaction with potential participants, admission policy, fees, and crucial technical requirements. I can’t tell you how much attention has been paid to colours of the sets, the sound and light quality and whether the faculty is seated exactly in the middle of the frame!

“When we started out, I honestly thought we might have to outsource the production part,” said Sajid Ali, Head, Multimedia, “but we did tests and kept improving—lighting is still our biggest challenge.”

“There’s lots of scope for improvement,” added Dave, “The quality of the visuals, the sound and slides—we’re on a learning curve.”

Core interests

Time now to share a brief description of the course that began on 11 May.
In over three months, the course offers 29 classes—two per week of two hours each. It has been divided into seven discrete sections, beginning with an introduction to journalism skills. Thereafter, it branches it out into more specialised journalism on subjects such as Indian politics, India’s national security, legal reporting, science, health and the environment, economics and finance, and finally, a deep dive into long-form journalism—the kind ThePrint does in our Ground Reports.

These topics have been chosen because they represent the most important news-makers in India and reflect ThePrint’s core areas of interest. Most of our journalism focuses on these subjects—it’s what we believe we are good at.

Each session is ‘live’—there are no recorded classes at PSJ. Sessions are interactive—participants talk, question, and debate with the faculty. There are assignments and feedback from the faculty. At the end of the course, ThePrint will offer internships in Delhi, to the participants with the best scorecards.

“I found them very well informed, they raised very relevant questions about journalism and politics,” said DK Singh, Editor, Politics, after his first class with the students.

There were takeaways for the faculty too: “It made me sit and think of what I have done all these years and how journalism has changed,” said Das Gupta.

“It’s been a fabulous learning experience,” said Mitra.

“I thought it was a way of giving back to the profession,” concluded Phadke.

Over to the participants.

Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views, complaints to [e-mail]

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)