Journalist qualifications

Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Manish Tiwari’s suggestion on reopening the issue of a minimum qualification for journalists (Aug. 20) makes sense. The practitioners of all other professions such as law, medicine, accountancy and teaching require minimum qualifications. There are some newspapers that recruit journalists based on the sole ability of them being able to secure advertisements for the newspaper.

P.V. Ramana Rao,Guntur

When more and more people pursue higher education and secure degrees, the result is the phenomenon of academic inflation.

The bar for entry into various professions is raised under the false presumption that the higher the academic qualification, the better the job-readiness of the candidate. This myth has now caught the fancy of those wanting to “professionalise” journalism through licensing.

Even academically qualified candidates turn out to be mediocre journalists. Can we ignore incompetence merely because the journalist has been licensed on the basis of a selection process?

By the same argument, why should we discourage those who have the potential and aptitude to become committed and responsible journalists from entering the profession merely because they fail the test of standardisation?

T.K.S. Thathachari,Bangalore

There are many people employed by a number of media houses working as stringers without any basic qualification. The government does need to look into the issue.

J.P. Reddy,Nalgonda