Mass communication as a special course

IT is no news that most students offering mass communication as a course have little or no knowledge as regards how lucrative the course is. A large number of students are ignorant as to what the course entails and how to develop themselves. Many lecturers reiterate how a graduate of mass communication can be self-reliant and self-employed after his or her service year. What most students is seem to think is this: “Since I am studying mass communication, definitely, I ought to be an On Air Personality (OAP), a newscaster or an actor. These really show how lucrative the course is. Mass communication can be described as a course of study through which students are trained to broadcast news or information in a creative way for large heterogeneous audiences through a medium across a country or the world. It is a course of study that opens up doors to a wide range of careers, from broadcasting to advertising, public relations, journalism, publishing, content writing, marketing, graphic designing and lots more.

In most tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the department is divided into two parts, namely the print and broadcast, but there are several branches of mass communication, namely advertising, public relations, photography, film production, radio production, journaling, publishing and lots more. As a graduate of mass communication who does not want to follow the queue, advertising is a lucrative field one can venture into. Advertising simply means a visual or auditory way to communicate with the audience through all forms of mass media. Advertising is promoting a company or organisation’s brand, product or service through mass medium i.e. social media, television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the internet. It is an instrument that helps organisations in passing information to its targeted publics.  A career in advertising is rewarding and satisfying. Apart from being lucrative, it allows you to have an impact on the world and shape culture. It also has a wide appeal, offering many opportunities for people with diverse skills and interests from all sphere of life.

It doesn’t require much skills aside being creative. An advertiser is said to be a copywriter, a production coordinator, an art director, an event planner, a marketing coordinator, a creative director, a graphic designer and lots more. Also, an advertiser writes radio ads, online ads, scripts, print ads, televised ads and so on. They also edit and proofread ads content for grammar and spelling. Another field a graduate or a student of mass communication can develop interest in is public relations. In a layman’s understanding, public relation is a strategic way of promoting and maintaining an organisation’s image in the eye of its publics. Public relations is said to be used to protect, enhance or build reputations for an organization through the media. Public relation involves developing and maintaining the public image of an organisation through campaigns, press release, newsletters, press briefing and lots more. A public relations practitioner is a professional. He is said to be an organisation spokesman, a copywriter, a media researcher, a public relation officer, a marketing executive and lots more.

Another lucrative and creative path a mass communication student can develop oneself is journaling. Journalism is the act of gathering, creating, editing and disseminating news or information through an appropriate, select medium or channel. Journalism involves vast writing, editing and gathering subjective newsworthy content. Journalism is of different types and it includes investigative journalism, entertainment journalism, sport journalism, broadcast journalism, opinion and feature journalism, online journalism, political journalism to mention but few. As a journalist, it is required of one to be good in writing, editing, gathering and  disseminating information and upholding the law and ethics guiding the profession. There is a wide range of professions involved in journalism. One can be a news writer, ad copy writing, photojournalist, script writer, news editor, columnist, cartoonist, news reporter or correspondent, proofreader, news producer and lots more.

In addition, publishing is also a genre of mass communication which is lucrative as a career prospect. Publishing simply means making information available for the public. Publishing is the writing and distribution of any printed work such as magazines, books, journals, periodicals, newspaper etc.  It also involves the activities of making literature, music, film and information available for public consumption either for sale or for free. The career prospects involved with publishing include, but are not limited to content writing, and the work of a sales manager, a graphic designer, production manager, contract manager, marketing manager and also, an editorial manager. That leaves us to the most prominent and comprehensive part of what mass communication entails which is broadcasting. With ease, broadcasting is the creating, packaging and dissemination of audio or audio-visual content via medium to a disperse heterogeneous audience at the same time. Broadcasting is the widest genre of mass communication. It involves a lot of specialty and professionalism in disseminating information. It requires a wide range of skills: ability to speak fluently and clearly, ability to read and understand, nose for news, charisma and poise, legible writing, ability to address audience and lots more.

• Azeez writes from the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State.

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