Essential for you to absorb different viewpoints

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 I want some quick and really passionate answers from all you aspiring journalists, I should simply ask 'what do you think of the ‘India against Corruption’ campaign?' All of you I am sure will give some really long views, comments and all of them would be full of passion. But now let me ask you all a different question. How do you think the Lokpal Bill is going to help the fight against corruption? Or do you think that the Jan Lokpal bill is a threat to the constitution and the vision of its writers. Oh and please give me an answer in about 500 words, if you would.

Okay so what I am trying to achieve here is not to tell you that these two questions are going to come this year. No one knows what will come. But I am trying to tell you the different aspects to the same issue. In short I am trying to tell you how to look at different issues so as to ensure that you answer them well.

I was just reading my blog for the entrance test last year and I realised that it still holds. So all of you, please read it before you go ahead with this one.

Previous Blog by Anshulji
Time to sip a cola & become a couch potato


Now that you have read it and have realised that IIMC entrance tests look at nothing but your general awareness and your ability to express your views lets go back to how I began.

All I asking you to do is to know the different sides of the same story. Generally the RTV question papers puts out a sentence and ask you to discuss or comment. And generally the word limit is small like 200 or 500 at the most.

Now given that you have such a small limit, you have to plan your answer well. In a discussion or a comment question it is necessary to have an introduction where you introduce your thought process to the examiner. Then there comes the body where you present the meat of your arguments and last comes the conclusion.

In this kind of a scenario be sure that you cover as many points as possible but in no case should you leave a point not explained. That is to say if you have picked up three main points in the body then explain them well rather than picking up 5 points and not explaining them at all. Keep them short and to the point and no need for repetition at all. Remember the examiner is looking at your ability to express your awareness. In ‘discuss or comment’ question always touch the pros and cons of a topic. In the ‘India against Corruption’ issue you should be aware of the criticism of the so called movement as well, regardless of where you stand on the topic.

In the 2010 question paper the first question is asking you to critically analyse the media coverage of some issues. These kind of questions are very common for the entrance exam. You can’t fluff on these. You have either watched the coverage or you have not. So one big advice, if you have not already started doing it, watch all the main news channels starting now. To form opinions with a strong foundation you should be reading all the opinions and editorial being written across newspapers, magazines etc. It is essential for you to absorb different viewpoints.

When you critically analyse something the examiner is asking you to look at a situation and say what you feel. In this case you have to mention what you liked or disliked about the coverage of issues. Again in the intro mention your main stand on what you felt about the coverage, was it balanced, was it sensationalist, was it subdued. Then explain why you feel so, give examples to back your analysis.

Remember it’s not a difficult exam, all you need to do is to sit back, watch tv, read news and be aware of all that happened in the last year. Be sure to read about all people, events, and controversies in the news in the last year. 2G, Commonwealth Games, India’s World Cup win, India against Corruption campaign, Adarsh society scam and the recent events in the Middle East come to my mind in less than a minute. But then if you are a true aspiring journalist and are a news junkie you already will know what I am talking about.


Wish you all the best of luck
Anshul Rana