News and Events

Raksha Kumar , is an award-winning journalist who writes for not one, but several such news organizations. Her work, which focuses on human rights, politics, and social injustices, has been published by the BBC, the Guardian, The New York Times, The Hindu, the Scroll and several others.

As a Chevening fellow in 2015, she researched right-wing ideology among South Asians in the United Kingdom. Since 2011, she has reported from 12 countries across the globe including Israel and the West Bank, and from a hundred districts in India.

Raksha Kumar visted CJMC in August and spoke to the students about the social and political concerns in India. While talking about the state of human rights, she stressed on the need to document stories of the marginalized.

Puja Chandra Prabhan, a freelance journalist, visited CJMC in August. She interacted with the students and spoke about the challenges and advantages of being a freelance writer.

RamuPatil, Bureau Chief, New Indian Express, visited CJMC in September. He spoke on the skills expected from students when they join a newspaper and spoke about a local and national politics.

In accordance with the UGC guidelines which require students to be associating with other universities and colleges, Qazi Hamza, a second year student, participated and was awarded the ‘Commendable Delegate’ (3rd place) in the Human Rights council of Model United Nations.

Debasish Roy Chowdhury, a veteran international journalist, visited CJMC in October, to share with students his knowledge and experience on taking on such regimes and reporting from difficult areas.

Roy Chowdhury is an international Journalist & Writer, a Jefferson Fellow and winner of multiple Hong Kong News awards and Society of Publishers in Asia awards. He has written about prominent issues including human rights violations and international relations. He has reported the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and other significant stories.

Mr Roy Chowdhury held an interactive session with students, not only answering their questions but also asking them thought-provoking questions on journalistic work and its importance in a democracy.

The gathering saw the discussion of various critical national and international problems, and how journalists should report them. Mr Roy Chowdhury spoke about Kashmir and Hong Kong, drawing parallels between the two situations. He also shared with students his experience as an international journalist and editor, and how his profession carried him many places across the globe.

Students of College of Journalism and Mass Communication (CJMC) visited Doordarshan Kendra on 20 February 2019.
A Doordarshan official explained to the students how the television channel functions. He provided technical details of the equipment the Kendra uses and demonstrated how each piece works. He also explained how information comes into the station and how it is turned into a full-fledged news package. The students gained valuable insights into how a television news channel works and got an opportunity to see the theory they had learned in the classroom put to work.

The Commits Institute organised an annual seminar event based on trends and challenges in Journalism, Media and Cinema in Bangalore on February 07, 2019. Twelve students from CJMC attended the event.

The seminar was divided into six sessions. The first session was addressed by Mr. Prakash Raj, actor, philanthropist and politician. He talked about setting positive social and political agendas through the media. The second session was by TR Gopalakrishnan, a senior journalist, who discussed about his years as a journalist and how he came to adapt to changes in technology and media. The third session had Faye D’Souza, executive director of Mirror Now, talking about the delights and challenges of being a television journalist.

CJMC bagged prizes at SLANT 2019, the annual meet for journalism jointly hosted by National School of Journalism and Public Discourse (NSOJ) and Atria Institute of Technology, on February 01, 2019.

Our students, Qazi Hamza Irfan, Sanjana B. and Vennela G.S. won first prize in Factcheck. In the Fake News Photography competition, Rahul Parthivas won second prize and Aprameya won third prize. Abhinav A. Dinesh participated in the extempore. CJMC students also stood first in the general knowledge quiz.

On 03 October, Debasish Roy Chowdhury, an international journalist and writer, Jefferson Fellow and winner of multiple awards including from Hong Kong News and the Society of Publishers in Asia, met our students in the college. Mr. Chowdhury has written on issues including human rights violations and international relations. Among other stories, he has reported on the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh and the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

He shared with students his knowledge and experience on how journalists play a crucial role when reporting from areas controlled by authoritarian regimes and working in areas from where it is difficult to report.

In the interactive session with students, he not only answered their questions but also asked them thought-provoking questions on journalistic work and its importance in a democracy. The gathering saw the discussion of various critical national and international problems, and how journalists should report them.

Mr Roy Chowdhury spoke about Kashmir and Hong Kong, drawing parallels between the two situations. He also shared with students his experience as an international journalist and editor and how his profession took across the globe.

The Faculty-Parent Meeting was held on 12 October, 2019. The aim was to review the performance of and potential challenges for their wards in the current semester. Parents were asked to discuss any issue and make suggestions that could help faculty in discharging their responsibilities in a better way.

Students of CJMC made their presence felt in several inter-college events as they won prizes at events such as Vibrations, held in DSU and in Acappella, the students festival in Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand. They won the prizes in debates, declamations, personality competitions and in beat-boxing.

1. Vivek R, Second Year, BA(JMC), fourth from left, won the Third Prize at 'Acapella', an inter-college students cultural festival held at IIT, Roorkee on 19 October 2019.

2. Vivek R, Second Year, BA(JMC), who was part of a team that won the First Prize at Acapella, an inter-college students cultural event, held at NitteMeenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT), Bengaluru, on May 19, 2019.

3. Sathwik, a Second Year student of BA(JMC), who is a “magician’’, was in the news. A feature story in Bangalore Mirror mentioned him and his work.

Senthil Kumar L, Associate Director Strategic Alliance, UCWeb India, Alibaba Mobile Business Group, Jaskaran Singh, Senior Brand Market Specialist, UCWeb India, Alibaba Mobile Business Group and Vincent, Product Manager (India), UCWeb India, Alibaba Mobile Business Group, visited CJMC, DSU on 18 November, to discuss its UC Bellwether Project.

Senthil Kumar said that his company would like students from CJMC to create online news content for the company, as part of its UC Bellwether Project, an agency set-up based content creation project.

Work done by the students would be treated as an internship. To enable students to create content, his team would hold a short, one-day workshop in CJMC to get them started.

The students are expected to create hyperlocal content in regional languages such as Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. The format would be typically memes and GIFs and videos on any topic. Students can create or curate from other platforms and the format will be sent.

The company will sendthe content created in regional languages to users on mobile phones (only) as there is demand for regional languages and the number of Net users from that segment is increasing.

Jaskaran Singh said that the students can do the work in their free time and the work would not disturb academic schedules and exams. Any volume of work done by the students is ok. Students can give less or more content depending on their time and schedules.

Students who create content will be paid cash rewards with incentives forgreater volumes created. They will also get performance-based certificates.

CJMC faculty members have asked for a preview of content that is expected from our students and the modalities of working out the proposal.

CJMC is following up on this first interaction with the company.

Amidst the academic pressures and exam preparation, CJMC invited a professional to visit the college and speak with students as part of the guest lectures programme.

Aditya Sinha, Editor-in-Chief, Deccan Chronicle, addressed students of CJMC on 20 November 2019. Mr.Sinha spoke about how the credibility of journalists is under attack. In a world where fake news spreads faster than actual news, the existence of "elite journalists", who are paid to publish what the authorities want, brings into question the credibility of real journalism. He told the students to speak the truth fearlessly even if it was against the powers that be.

Bringing journalistic ethics into the discussion, he pointed out that the story matters the most and that the method of obtaining the story can be secondary.

Author of several novels, Mr.Sinhaemphasised the importance of narrative writing in journalism. Data-driven journalism may be the most popular form of writing reports today but people do not want numbers. “They want stories,” he said.

The visit ended with a Question-Answer session where students clarified the doubts they had with the guest.

In order to participate in workshops hosted by industry experts and get an opportunity to watch award-winning world movies, 11 students of CJMC attended the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa from 22-24 November, 2019. They also attended a session on acting with Anil Kapoor.

The first batch of graduates from CJMC received their degree for successfully completing BA(JMC). Students received their degree at a glittering ceremony held in the college. Pranav R S and Swathy Suresh were recipients of the gold and silver medals respectively. While Pranav R S is now working as Research Analyst at Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru, Swathy Suresh is pursuing MA in International Relations at the University of Sussex.

Following exams, CJMC students participated in NSS activity held on 23 December, 2019. They visited the hospital for urban wildlife run by People for Animals. They helped in three ways: they built ladders and hammocks, painted the walls of the shelter and made tree guards. PFA’s Hospital and Rescue centre for wild animals houses over 280 animals currently. It runs on donations and it requests support in whatever way possible. The organisation plays an important role in educating people about the human-animal conflict.