Media-PR Bhai-Bhai!

By C K Sardana

The author - a former
General Manager (Corporate PR)
at BHEL.

PR  envisages information dissemination for opinion-formation/image-building.

Apart from the oft-said and used tools of PR, I have experimented with  the use of bodies of media persons for bringing them nearer to the top brass and, also, in getting positive stories carried in media from time to time. This  exercise also helped know the Organization, first hand.

I had spent life time in PR in BHEL  Units before moving to Corporate Office at New Delhi years ago as Head of Corporate PR. Function was not new but the place -- that too India's Capital - new. So, I looked to my colleagues in Corporate PR for an update on the media and its functioning. They were forthcoming and opened out frankly.

Dr. KS Jayaraman, Science Editor, PTI and  Balbir Punj, Special Correspondent, Financial Express -- to name just these two -- were very enthusiastic in laying hands on exclusive/in-depth stories about key aspects of the economy. My colleagues suggested 'why not take initiative and suggest to them to start a professional body of their fellow-journalists.' That is how Indian Science Writers Association and Forum of Financial Writers came into being in early 1990s with very humble initiative from PR.

We, in and from BHEL, offered them help in the establishment of these bodies. They commended this. A session each was organized as a 'Meeting the journalists' with our CMD, Directors etc. It was not at all a press conference but an informal get-together with founder members of these bodies. Such meetings paid rich dividends as they brought media persons closer to BHEL and its Top Management.  

Please note that we did not solicit stories in their agency/newspaper. But these came on their own and that trend continued. After all, what is PR? A sustained programme of building relationships with stakeholders. Media, surely, is among the most important stakeholders for any Organization and its PR outfit.

Over the years, such bodies have come up in New Delhi and Metro Cities. Nevertheless, PR professionals are well advised to take initiative and get Media persons set up such bodies for their own professional requirement and progress. This needs lot of ground work. More than this, this requires courage on the part of the Top Managements to keep channels of communication open with the Media for helping build Organization's image. PR Heads, themselves, have got to be very bold and candid in convincing their bosses that this is in Organization's interest.

Information dissemination through informal meetings with members of such professional bodies will enjoy an extra element of credibility.  All those sitting in positions of decision-making in Government and elsewhere do read such stories and form opinion about issues and organizations.

This is PR job. Let our friends ponder over this suggestion and get going!   (casardana@gmail.com)

How to win friends among media persons

By C K Sardana*

After a 23-year stint in PR/Corporate Communication -- all along in BHEL's Units at Bhopal and Hardwar -- I was transferred as Head/Corporate PR at New Delhi in June 1985. Even though, I belonged to Delhi,  I had not rubbed shoulders with media and media persons

The Author

stationed in Delhi. But, then, I was not a novice in PR/CC, either!.

On the very first day, I sought advice from the personnel in Corporate PR as to how to go about. While I was new in that position, they had already spent over a decade dealing with media in Delhi. I just asked them to name 1-2 media persons with whom they were not very comfortable or, in other words, who were not very cooperative. They named Harish Awasthi who, then, was Director/News/Doordarshan. Incidentally, unlike now, there were no other TV channels at that time.

I asked my colleagues when did DD carry an item on BHEL last time. They shrugged and said '3-4 months'. That, surely, was not acceptable to me. In tune with my nature and work style, I thought it best to take initiative, get to Awasthi and have a dialogue with him. I rang him up. He was, as expected, cold and said yes, no and so on.

I thanked him and concluded 2-mt talk 'OK, Sir, I will come over after a few days and then we will talk.'

He said Fine.

After 15 days, I met him. This time, he was little warm and forthcoming. He started saying that BHEL was not doing well at all. Contents of what he said and his body language made me understand that his premise was based on lack of communication with him. He was quite angry. I just listened, smiled and thanked him for his frankness. I said 'we will keep meeting'.

This time again he said FINE.

In the third meeting, I requested him to just listen to me for 10 mts by the watch. He said 'no problem, come on'. Quickly but clearly and pointedly, I shared with him some outstanding achievements of BHEL which surpassed those of even the best companies in the world. Now, his face showed a big smile and discreet 'yes on the achievements of BHEL which, he said, must be aired on the DD network. I cam back happy.

Awasthi called his colleagues and told them all that had transpired. He asked them to give wide publicity to BHEL. Jolly well, tables were turned. From the third meeting onwards, DD started good giving coverage.

Moral of this narration -- PR man, especially PR Head, must have confidence in self, in his colleagues and in the media persons. He must demonstrate his confidence and professional competence inside and outside the Organization. This will bring about negativity to positivity.

But, always humble and forthcoming. PR is not a 10 to 5 job but 24/7 job. (*The author is a Former GM/Corporate PR/BHEL, Now settled at Bhopal.email id: casardana@gmail.com)

The web called social sector

 

Book Review SOCIAL SECTOR COMMUNICATION IN INDIA by Jaishri Jethwaney, SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi-11044, 2016, Pages 268, Rs. 850.

by Prof. C K Sardana, Bhopal

Sociologists often refer to the social sector as the third sector, public and private being the other two. Social sector has emerged at a galloping speed with a burgeoning human capital of more than 130 crores. Despite massive expenditure on Social Sector, India has been performing extremely poor on various development indicators when compared with other developing nations including some Sub-Saharan countries. India languishes at the bottom half of the Human Development Index (HDI), wedged among underdeveloped countries such as Namibia, Sao-Tome, Principe and Solomon Islands. The countries endowed with less natural resources and lower calibre human capital have performed better due perhaps to responsive and effective governance.

The reviewer -
Prof C K Sardana

Let me quickly underline the fact that everything has not gone haywire. There are sectors where we have done extremely well -- much ahead of even the advanced countries. We have had three main revolutions -- Green Revolution, IT Revolution and Space Revolution.  Today, Indian engineers, doctors, scientists, bankers, academics and specialists in other fields occupy top positions in the Government and other organizations in even advanced countries like USA.

Juxtaposed with the above is the fact that the country continues to have the largest mass of illiterate people and malnourished children, poorest public health service, dirtiest rivers in the world,  billions of people clamouring for food, jobs, safety and security, largest number of suicides by farmers, labourers, students, oppressed women and so on.

SOCIAL SECTOR COMMUNICATION IN INDIA by Jethwaney seeks to address some of the key issues in social sector communication combining concepts and practices with hands-on skills. It aims at providing an understanding of various tools and strategies required in this communication. An important endeavour of this communication is to gauge, from time to time, peoples' mind set, expectations, environment around and then effect such changes in communication as will prompt policy-makers to give up arm chair approach and people at large to whole-heartedly come forward and play their role in making development policies a success.

The book has seven chapters beginning with a comprehensive overview of the social sector in India followed by social marketing, CSR, advocacy, communication and social mobilization, grassroots communication, case studies and hands-on skills in writing for and through New Media. While there is a passing reference to PM's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, very little space has been given to Government's initiatives  like Digital India, Skill Development, Fight against corruption, empowerment of women etc.  Price of Rs. 850 for a 268-page book is high.

Notwithstanding the above, the book is rich in information and data, its narration and overall approach. It should be extremely useful to policy-makers, NGOs, Government Departments, Funding Agencies, Monitoring bodies and, above all, to students of development communication and media. (casardana@gmail.com)

‘Bharatiya’ face of Journalism - Read KKT's Book

 Review by Prof. C K Sardana

HANDBOOK OF PRINT JOURNALISM by Prof. Kiran Thakur, Publisher : Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal Pages 393. Price Rs.375

Notwithstanding the hullabaloo as to whether Electronic Media, especially the New Media --

Prof Kiran Thakur

also called Social Media -- is going to stall any further progress in Print Media, the fact is that Indian Newspaper industry has shown phenomenal growth on all counts. While large number of newspapers in the West has been either closed down or suffered decline in readership, circulation figure of most Indian newspapers has continued to grow. Indian newspapers have added new additions, supplements, pullouts and publications. They are using the latest technology to produce black and white and color publications.

Our newspaper industry is among the best in the world.  Unfortunately, students of print journalism have been depending on books by foreign writers who obviously wrote with their experience in their respective countries. In the last few years, however, a number of books have been written by Indian professionals -- both practitioners and academicians. All this has been a disjointed effort. 

Makhanlal Chaturvedi University, an exclusive university for Journalism and Communication set up at Bhopal, came out with the concept of consolidating various nuances in journalism and communication in 2010. Under this well thought-out program, the University has brought out quality text books on Media-related subjects in conformity with the syllabuses in its own courses as also elsewhere in India and abroad, besides other publications. The University has thus carved a niche for itself through quality education, research, publications and organizing  even international events.

The book by Prof. Kiran Thakur, a veteran journalist-turned journalism teacher and a media researcher, is among a dozen text books already published by the University.

Prof. Brij Kishore Kuthiala, University's Vice Chancellor says in the Preface 'authors of these (text) books have provided the readers Bhartiya (Indian) perspectives on modern communication and journalism.' This is exactly what is required at the present juncture.  

The book is addressed to students and teachers of Print Journalism. It is not just a Handbook but an encyclopedia. It contains detailed information about the nitty-gritty of newspapers - what we call in engineering language: from concept to commissioning. It has chapters on newspaper reporting, editing, page design, sources of news, production of web editions. There are also chapters on theories and models of communication because of their importance for journalism students aspiring to be journalists. 

Some other noteworthy features of the book are a comprehensive glossary, lists of websites of Indian newspapers, code of ethics adopted by The Hindu besides other relevant web links. The readers will surely find the book useful to understand the complexity of the fascinating field of print journalism. 

MCU should be complimented for conceiving this idea of text books, commissioning right persons and getting more than dozen volumes written and published. These are in English. There is a huge Hindi heartland covering UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, MP and Chhatisgarh. The University should organize Hindi editions of these text books as a solid and lasting contribution to the teaching of journalism all over the country. (casardana@gmail.com)