Time to sip a cola & become a couch potato

Anshul Rana is a 2005-06 Radio TV Journalism pass out. He has worked with TIMES NOW, NDTV and now is a reporter for The Los Angeles Times.

He can be contacted on anshulrana.84@gmail.com

If you are actually reading this blog I can safely assume that you aspire to study at IIMC the coming academic year. To be even more specific you want to be a tv journalist. Like any examinee you would be a little nervous and trying to understand how you can crack the exam. Well then my advice is its time for you to relax, sit back and beat the prevalent heat wave conditions across half the nation.

No I haven't lost my metal balance nor am I a hacker who has posted his own views and I am definitely not an aspirant trying to spoil your preparations to better my chances (nice conspiracy theory- we journo types revel in them). But I am simply telling you what you might do to prepare for the exam on May 21st. (Admission Notice)

Okay before you all right me off as a crazy bugger let me explain. Take a look at the various entrance exam question papers posted on this blog (Question Papers) and what is the common thread? You might turn around and say there is no set format, there is no fixed parameter, every year is different. And I will say you are absolutely right. But take another look and you will see that all the questions whether they are asking you to write a short essay or just two words, are based on current affairs. Every single one of them.

Let's pick up a few samples

Year 2007
1. Write on any two of the following in not more than 200 words…15 (7.5 each)
A. The central educational (Reservations in admission) bill 2006 and the recent developments.
B. Electoral college for the election of president of India.
C. Indian takeovers abroad in steel and aluminum.
D. US president's visit to India

6. Critically evaluate the TV news coverage of any one of the following in not more than 200 words……7.5 marks.
A. Nithari killings
B. Samjhauta Express
C. Rescue of Prince

9. Match the following…. 2.5 marks
A. Channel 4 India
B. Geo TV Japan
C. CNN UK
D. NHK Pakistan
E. SUN-TV USA

Year 2008
Q1: TV news channels are replacing newspapers in India. Discuss in 500 words

Q4: Discuss within 200 words your views on India's look east policy OR significance of recent elections in Nepal?

Lets look at the 2007 question paper first. Q1 simply asks you to discuss in 500 words any of the 4 topics. 500 words is actually not much but if you have no clue about a topic these 500 words can look like a magnum opus. 3 out of the 4 topics are directly related to news events that happened in the preceding year. Only the electoral college discussion is not a direct news event but considering that the President was elected in that year you should have a fair bit idea of how the country's President is elected.

It is clear that across these two years the examinee is trying to assess your interest in current affairs and frankly if you don't have an interest in news you should not be giving this exam at all, in fact the career choice is a little faulty then. What you write in the discussion is entirely up to you. You can take either side but you should be able to justify your arguments. For instance if you are not happy with the US president's visit to India in 2007 you should be able to point out why. Are there some policies you don't agree with or is it what he said. 500 words is not a lot of words and once you get a flow you realise that the word limit is reached soon. So it is absolutely necessary for you to make as many arguments as you can. Try and be succinct.

The other two questions in 2007 are directly related to news. One is about events while the other is about channels from various countries. Now if you have been watching tv (which you should since you aspire to be a tv journalist) you will instantly recollect that Geo tv is in Pakistan and was in news for its confrontations with the Pakistani establishment under Musharraf. Also one of its senior journalist Hamid Mir is seen frequently on several channels taking part in debates. CNN of course is pretty famous, as is channel 4. Sun TV is also quite visible on our cable networks that leaves out NHK (frankly, I have never heard about it but using the exclusion principle we have come to the right choice).

Now to 2008, again the same format, discussion based on a current affair. The debate about TV news channels and newspapers is a big one and an ongoing one. While in India we haven't really felt it. In US and UK newspapers are fighting for their survival. I am sure if you have read newspapers and watched tv news in the past two years you could not have missed the impact of the current recession on media across the world. Similarly India look East Policy and Nepal elections were quite decent headlines at their time.

Which brings us to the bottom line and it is this. You need to brush up your current affairs. Read newspapers, magazines, internet news portals and watch tv news. When you read opinion pieces or watch tv debates try and form your own arguments simultaneously (it will help in the discussion for your exams) . One more thing when you watch news coverage on the channels try and understand what they are doing and how they are doing it. By now you would have definitely come across criticism for the electronic media for its coverage of 26/11, but there are other events also that you can think about. Ask yourself about several news stories. Do I Like it ? Why don't I like a particular news coverage? These kind of questions do come up at times. What is the difference between news on 24x7, CNN-IBN and TIMES NOW (there are others but I picked the top three). If you like watching business news channels, you should know how many of them are there, how do they go about their daily news and how are they different from each other.

You should have a pretty good idea of almost all big events that have shaped our present or our future. Right to Education, Paid news, Kasab trial, Census 2011 and the mess with the IPCC are just some of the points that come to my mind in just about 15 seconds. You should have about 100 such topics, people, companies that you need to read about because of what they have done in the past one year. So how do you know about all this. Simple, read, watch and listen.

No need to run around fretting about the exam, they cant ask you physics or chemistry, nor will they ask you questions on the relativity theorem. All questions will be on current affairs and there are no books on what is happening now. So just sit back, relax, switch on the a/c, cooler or the fan and start reading and watching news. An exam that actually asks you to watch tv, now in this heat what more can you ask for?

PS: If you feel bored with all the newspapers and news channels its an indication that this exam and this career is not what you really want. Do not choose tv journalism just because you want to see yourself on television (try Ekta Kapoor for that). You need to have passion for news and a 'need to know'.

Anshul Rana