My Internship Experience….!!! !!J

                                                                      By Flexcia D’souza

‘What is most important is the knowledge of how to apply knowledge’. -Ron Young

How important this quote is for every educated individual who specializes in any field!. As I’m aspiring to become a journalist, I need to learn to apply the knowledge I gain from the books of journalism.

Our syllabus teaches us various things which form a strong base and in order to give us practical experience and as part of the syllabus, a group of Five of us where send to intern with Goa edition of ‘Times of India’.

‘The Times of India’ is one of the reputed newspaper  and I find myself privileged to have got a chance to intern with it. ., it provided us with the thrill and excitement of socialising with people, asking question, collecting information and writing a news-report or feature.

The first day I went there, I was amused by the office building, the infrastructure and the hardworking and efficient people who work over there continuously. It was an amazing feeling to sit and interact with the Chief editor and also have a conversation with senior journalists who work over there.

During our training we were taught about the nuances of feature writing, report writing and editing. In order to put our learning into practice we were sent to report various events, which later used to appear in the newspaper. We were also asked to write features on various topics. The feeling which one gets on seeing his/her byline on the newspaper is fabulous.

We were told the manner of writing a ‘good’ news story. A good news report starts with very important aspects of the story, i.e. the 5W & 1H and later on a description and a few quotes by influential and important people should be written.

Same rule is applied for features. We were asked to speak to various people of different sex, age groups, religions and social backgrounds, find out their opinion on a particular topic and write a feature. It was later edited and our mistakes were corrected.

Next we were taught editing. We were taught how to edit the important things, discard the unnecessary things, rearrange the story and write a precise story. We were asked to edit many reports so that we are through with our work.

We were taken to various departments and sections of the newspaper and briefed about the functioning of those departments and told about what work one has to do there.

We were taken on a field trip to Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM to show the working of the radio station. We were also provided a chance to go on air for a few minutes.

Overall it was a very beneficial experience wherein we learned many things which will be very helpful for our career. Interning with such a prestigious firm provided us wide exposure which will be very useful in our future….!  J

            

Publishing Next Experience

-By Malaika Fernandes (TYBA)

The Publishing Next Conference was a remarkable platform for the Journalism students of St. Xavier’s College to gain on-the-job experience. It was held on the 16^th and 17^th of September, 2011 at International Centre Goa. Cinnamon Teal Publishing, Margao took a pioneering step in organizing the very first conference on future ideas in the publishing field. Noted speakers and panelists from various parts of India as well as inventors from the UK, who were brought in by the British Council, made this conference an eventful one.

Over the two days of the conference, interesting and relevant issues were addressed. Sessions on Social media marketing, Digital books, Copyright issues, Translation markets and Independent publishing were conducted. We were provided with fascinating insights into this field. New ideas as well as existing challenges and developments were discussed by these professionals. Also, workshops on Academic Writing and Social Media Marketing broadened our spheres of knowledge and served as an amazing learning experience.

The 40 panelists included big names like James Bridle (UK), Mandira Sen (Kolkatta). Payal Kumar (SAGE, Delhi), Judith Oriol (France), Preeti Vyas and so on.

Lianne Caldeira (TYBA), Aliuska Lawrence (TYBA), Aliston Dias (SYBA) and I got the incredible opportunity to interact with the veterans of the publishing, marketing and distribution scene in the country. Our tasks included interviewing the panelists, transcribing each session and photography work. It was a difficult job but we definitely learned a lot from this experience and enjoyed ourselves as well. Ehrwin Fernandes and Ian D’souza from TYBA, Mass Communication were involved with filming the proceedings. 

Mining Problems in Goa
                                           By Navita Kandolkar

  

Goa is one of the beautiful tourist destination in the world. Goa is loosing its beauty, pure air, and its water sources. Mining is posing grave threat in the state of Goa. There is tremendous pressure on land, water, housing, quality of air, agriculture, fisheries and forest cover due to mining industry.

Mining rewards us with collective misery and death. Mining is creating a disaster that is irreversible. Air pollution is rampant in Goa's mining belt. Health of people including women and children is badly affected. there is high level of lung diseases. prevalent in the mining belt. Due to blasting, flooding, mine collapse and expansion of mining area people's habitat has received severe blow. Large number of houses are affected and many people are living under constant risks. For past few decades agriculture has been badly shattered by the mining industry due to large amount of silt deposited in the cultivable paddy fields.

By Navita Kandolkar

                                         The need for exclusive bus for college students
                                                                                                                by: Lisvan Rodrigues

I travel everyday by bus and I have noticed that the conditions of the buses plying on Goa roads are pathetic. They are not public transport but junk on wheels, worse are the conductors who are shameless and rude, denying us, the student’s legitimate 50 percent concession on bus travel within state.

With great difficulty we reach college on time, ‘thanks’ to the pan-stained buses which have become a spitting bin for most of the tobacco and paan chewing passengers. Do sign boards like ‘no spitting’ and ‘no smoking’ help?

The bus tragedy at Aldona could have been avoided had the transport authorities conducted periodical inspections, at least once in a fortnight.

It costs a lot for middle-class people like me and other students who travel everyday from margao to panjim to study. I would therefore, appreciate if the government takes the initiative to put in motion a bus exclusively reserved for students, of course at concessional rates in the mornings.