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Job Benefits of Indian Journalists: All they want is all they’ve got, all they’ve got is all they need Bridgette Colaco Assistant Professor Hall School of Journalism Troy University Troy, AL 36082 USA Voice (571) 435-1754 [email protected] Bridgette Colaco is Assistant Professor in the Hall School of Journalism at Troy University. Her research interests include international communication, gender and media, newspaper research, and popular culture. She has more than 700 bylines in her 12 years of journalism experience; and was most recently assistant editor of Hindustan Times in Mumbai. She received a Doctoral Fellowship and a University grant for her dissertation research based on Indian journalists. and Jyotika Ramaprasad Associate Professor School of Journalism Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL 62901 USA Voice (618) 536-3361 Fax (618) 453-5200 [email protected] Jyotika Ramaprasad is Associate Professor in the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her research interests are currently focused on communication for social change. She has published in the Journalism Quarterly, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Asian Journal of Communication, Gazette, Mass Communication & Society, The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, Social Marketing Quarterly, and other journals. She has produced a TV documentary on Asian Indians in Carbondale and worked on a campaign for flood preparedness in Vietnam. She has received US State Department grants for work in South Asia and East Africa. Keywords: India, Journalist Survey, Job Benefits Job Benefits of Indian Journalists: All they want is all they’ve got, all they’ve got is all they need Submitted to the Education and research Division of the Arab-U.S. Association for Communication Education for presentation at Twelfth Annual AUSACE International Conference, Dubai, October 2007. 1 This paper reports the results of a survey of job benefits available to Indian journalists. While modeled after Weaver and Wilhoit’s (1996) study of American journalists, this paper includes benefits specific to India and also gauges whether the importance assigned by journalists to these benefits differs from their availability. The benefits, rated for importance, coalesced into two tangible factors – Professional Rewards, Material Benefits, and two intangible factors – Professional Advancement, and Personal Rewards. Tangible benefits include pay, perks, job security, long-term contract, flexible working hours, education, and training opportunities. Intangible benefits include a chance to advance in the profession, to be in a happening profession, and to meet celebrities, interesting, and important people. All the benefits were rated above average in importance, and ranked in the following order: Professional Advancement, Material Benefits, Professional Rewards, and Personal Rewards. Three job benefits – Personal Rewards, Professional Advancement, and Material Benefits – were rated above average for availability, while Professional Rewards rated below average. Specifically, Material Benefits were less available and Professional Rewards were more available compared to how much importance journalists assigned to them. Indian journalists in this study are highly satisfied with their jobs; Job satisfaction is related to job benefits, specifically to Professional Rewards and Personal Rewards but in different ways. Firstly, the more professional rewards journalists get, the more they are satisfied with their jobs. Secondly, and surprisingly, the more personal rewards journalists get, the less they are satisfied with their jobs. 2 The study’s contribution lies in 1) its inclusion of job benefits specific to Indian society and press as culled from the literature, 2) its finding of the importance placed by Indian journalists on the intangible Professional Advancement benefit, 3) its finding of job satisfaction being related to job benefits, and 4) the benchmarks it establishes for communication research in India.