The Department of Media Science, The Heritage Academy, Kolkata recently organised Journoscope 2023, a mega event on journalism. Inaugurated on March 14, the event showcased budding journalistic talents from the institute on a variety of platforms like News Package, News Reel and Photography. The event also saw various industry professionals sharing their insights and inspiring students at the event.
This year, Moupia Nandy, deputy editor of a prominent media house, inaugurated the event. During her inaugural address, she spoke about the pre-requisites a person should have to start a career in journalism. “Journalism is changing constantly and the advent of digital media had made a phenomenal change in the way journalism is shaped today. But the basic things about news-making remain the same,” she said.
Moupia Nandy at the inauguration of the event
The first day of the mega event also witnessed the trailer launch of the upcoming Eken Babu film in the presence of the entire cast and crew. The audience was thrilled to watch the trailer and interact with the actors. The actors, in turn, inspired the young minds about filmmaking and spoke about the way Bengali films are evolving, be it through social media, web series or the box office. The students were also given hands-on insights about the ways films are promoted to target the right audience.
On Day 2 and 3, a masterclass was also organised with stalwarts from the media world. Paranjoy Guhathakurata, who spoke on ‘Social media and Ethics’, was followed by Swarnali Sarkar, Pew Roy and Manogya Loiwal, who deliberated on various crucial topics to give students a well-rounded exposure to the world of media.
During his address, Paranjoy spoke about the basic differences between Journalism and Public Relations. He went on to stress upon the ethical aspects of journalism and the importance of journalists projecting the truth behind every story that they report. Pew and Swarnali spoke about the basic traits of journalism, where journalists have to lead from the front. Manogya spoke about how field journalists report the news and the finer points of the same.
Tamal Saha, and RJ Praveen discussed ‘New Age Content’
On a penultimate day, Tamal Saha, and RJ Praveen, discussed ‘New Age Content’, which is continuously being used by news channels and radio stations to engage target audiences.
The final day of the event witnessed the launch of the web series Seven, which is available on Zee 5. The web series is directed by noted filmmaker Anjan Dutt and was launched by him along with his lead cast members, Gaurav Chakrabarty and Riddhima Ghosh. The launch witnessed the entire cast and crew interacting with students. “Characters are very important in a web series and you want to watch it because of the characters that inspire you to do so,” said Anjan, speaking to students at Journoscope.
The mega event gave students an opportunity to interact with industry leaders in the field of journalism and engage with them to gain an understanding of current trends. “Every year, we organise this event, which gives the students the right platform to know what is currently happening in the field of journalism. Here they also actively participate in various competitions like news making, news reels and many more, which are judged by the industry stalwarts,” said Dr. Madhupa Bakshi, dean, department of Media Science, The Heritage Academy, Kolkata. The mega event was supported by P.K. Agarwal, CEO, Heritage Group of Institutions and Prof. Gour Banerjee, principal, The Heritage Academy.
The Institute currently offers undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in Media Science, apart from offering BBA and BCA programmes.
The article has been published in collaboration with The Heritage Academy