From the President’s desk-2: Towards Inclusive Communication...

I may not be young, but I too have a dream!

The dream of contributing to PRCI emerging as a truly ace and premier communication platform.

Ever since I have been appointed as the President of the National Executive, I have been flooded with greetings and goodwill messages which are full of enthusiasm to do something new. It’s nice to so much of energy and eagerness to take PRCI to new heights. While it is natural for us to expect the youth among the PRCIans to show lot of promise, it is equally heartening to note that even the veterans are full of ideas. What is even more important is the fact that they all love new ideas. And one common thread that holds us all together is the determination to keep the PRCI flag flying.

Over the past decade since its formation, PRCI has come a long way, but we have miles to go. The field of communication is rapidly changing with technology serving as the enabler. We have begun to use the technology in a unique way.

Perhaps for the first time, we at PRCI have launched our e-Mag truly online at no cost at all. You must have seen http://prrapport.blogspot.in/ which has caught the imagination of not only PRCIans, but the communication world around.

It's a big wow! As I key-in  this message, PRapport has crossed the record 500-page views mark in a short span. The audience wise breakup is: India 353. US 141. UK 4 and one each in Spain,  Kuwait, Maldives and Turkey. Thank you friends, let’s look forward to 1000 soon and as Mr S K Kaul says 100,000 mark!

PRapport is one of the many ways to stay in touch on a continuous basis. Do keep visiting and commenting and contributing. Please send your reports, pictures, videos to me. The subjects could be PRCI related activities, information that can enhance knowledge and policy issues that may have an impact on our profession.

As I have been talking and moving around, one question that I have been facing is: So, Mr President, what do you want us to do?

It is not the question of what I want the teams to do. It’s about all of doing it together as a team, and all chapters put together.

I have set this agenda for myself. Do correct me if I go wrong anywhere.

Strengthen PRCI Chapters: We need to plan and launch chapter wise activities which will culminate into at least quarterly zonal and half yearly national activities. But before that we need to activate our existing members and hen launch new, but a select, membership drive. Unless we have a broader representation, we cannot grow from the present position. I am sure all of you must be tired of seeing the same faces at conclave after conclave.

We did couple of unique activities for strengthening the participation at our recent conclaves. In Mumbai, we had an inter-collegiate contest and winners with their supporters participated in the 8^th Conclave. In Delhi, we had a large number of corpcom friends from PSUs joining us at the 9^th Conclave.

YCC: While we look at approaching senior professionals, we also should activate the YCC chapters. The mass communication and journalism students who join the YCCs will be our future brand members and even ambassadors.

Guest Faculty Pool: At Mumbai, we successfully experimented with initiatives like The Guest Faculty Pool and Knowledge Forums. The guest faculty pool is like a speakers’ forum from where we keep nominating professionals for lectures/presentations/seminars at mass communication colleges and the professionals include those from PR, Advertising and Media.

Knowledge Forums: For Knowledge Forums, we tied up with The Press Club where we conduct programmes on issues of general interest. For instance, we had a couple of media seminars with the BARC scientists on Radiation for crops and Urban Garbage Management. This helps us in increasing the awareness about PRCI in the minds of media fraternity. I am sure we can do at last one activity a month with the Press Clubs. Its cost effective and its useful.

Professional Training: At the 9^th Conclave, a suggestion cropped up on the need to train upcoming PR professionals in public and private sectors. Taking the NTPC example, we offered to work with the corporates on making their professionals industry ready. For this, we could take the help of senor journalists who are ever ready to share their knowledge and tell us on media expectations from PR in this ever changing world. For instance, cocktail dinners which were a vogue ten years ago, do not get any media response!

Fastest 500: With 25 chapters, if we look at a monthly activity each with Press Clubs and one YCC programme, we can look forward to 50x10+ 500 activities to report at the 10^th Conclave. It is an achievable target for all us of put together. I am sure the Zonal chairmen will all agree with me! Even if we achieve 200-activity target, we would have made a solid beginning.

The activities could be very simple – from addressing local issues to professional matters. Let me tell you how it works in Mumbai. The Press Club, being the partner,  gives us their 40-seater hall free. The hi-tea costs less than Rs 5,000. But the goodwill that we gain is priceless.

Website: The work on – www.publicrelationscouncilofindia.com – in progress and we should see it up and running soon. I am getting quite a bit of content from our headquarters in Bengaluru. I request all chapters to keep sending their activity information.

We have to make a beginning, let’s do it now.

Please send in ideas and suggested plans of action as we move on. More importantly, please guide me to do well.

Yours sincerely,

Press Council must get more teeth, says Prasar Bharati Chief

• Media self-regulatory mechanism appears inadequate,
• says A Surya Prakash
• Addresses PRCI Global Communication Conclave
• DD reviving news programmes, looking for new ratings agency
• Conclave delegates express concern at ethical standards among media and PR professionals

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern at the “inadequate’ self-regulatory mechanism within media, Prasar Bharati Chairman A. Surya Prakash has suggested that the Press Council must become a Media Council with adequate media representation and acquire more teeth.   

Some of the private news channels have been creating noise during their prime time shows ignoring the news content. Viewers could now watch DD News or listen to All India Radio (AIR) is they were tired of the ‘noise channels’, he said and pointed out that “each and every Indian is a stake holder in Prasar Bharati since it depends on Union budgetary support - about Rs 2,100 crore out of its Rs 4,000-crore budget in the current financial year. Its own revenue generation was around Rs 1,650 crore as of now and with increased focus on internal revenue generation, this was expected to improve.  

Mr Surya Prakash, who is himself if a veteran journalist, was addressing an open session at the 9th Global Communication Conclave organized by the communication industry body Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) in the capital.

Mr Rajan Mahew, DG, COAI

Earlier during a panel discussion on media and PR ethics, delegates expressed concern over the recent developments that led to unpleasant developments. Responding, Editors Guild general secretary Ajay Upadhyay said the entire media community need not be painted with the same brush just because of some perceived unethical practices. Most media houses do have gatekeepers in the form of strong news desks and editors to check the flow of the news into the newspapers and channels.

Veteran journalist Mr K A Badarinathi, Editor-Poicy at Financial Chronicle, explained that media persons in general take adequate care while using tones of information that they get in the process of collecting the news.

During the two-day conclave that concluded on Saturday, communication professionals took part in panel discussions on media and PR ethics, CSR, financial inclusion, youth, technology and sexual harassment at workplace during the two-day Conclave ended on Saturday evening.

Rajan Mathews, Director General of Cellular Operators Association of India who delivered the keynote address, pointed out that misinformation is being spread on the so-called radiation effects from cell phone towers whereas there is no scientific evidence of such an impact. The mobile tower radiation emission standards that are being practiced in India are much more stringent than the western and European norms, he said.

Panel discussion on Financial Inclusion: 

Participating in a panel discussion on financial inclusion, former CMD of Canara Bank Rajiv Dubey said media should play a major role in increasing the financial literacy in the country, while Mr Shubhrangshu Neogi, Director and Head of Marketing & Brand-Religare emphacised the need to cut the jargon and simplify the flow of information to the masses. Financial services companies to need to involve PR machinery to educate the people about various plans and schemes and ensure inclusive growth, said Mohit Rochlani, CMO of IndiaFirst Life Insurance.
Discussion moderator and senior financial journalist Ritukant Ozha said media has an important role to play in furthering the cause of financial inclusion and asked financial institutions to be transparent in their communication with journalists.

M B Jayaram, Chairman Emeritus & Chief Mentor - PRCI 

Based on the suggestions from speakers, PRCI has decided to launch an awareness drive for adopting ethical practices among public relations practitioners and conduct skill development programmes for professionals to understand the functioning of media and its information needs, Mr M B Jayaram – Chairman Emeritus and Chief Mentor of PRCI, said.

Mr Surya Prakash said in his speech that the news packages on Doordarshan and All India Radio are being revamped to make them contemporary and appealing to the audience. The average age of employees at Prasar Bharati was 50 plus because of the absence of a Prasar Bharati Recruitment Board. There was need for fresh infusion of talent and therefore there was urgent need to have the recruitment boards in place.

Side by side, he explained, work was on to change the look and feel of the news channel and programmes and to get over the “Sarkari mindset” within the organization. “We have been working towards setting up a Prasar Bharati Recruitment Boards to work towards this goal,” he said to a question.

Editors Guild General Secretary (left) being
felicitated by CJ Singh, vice president (NE-PRCI)

Prasar Bharati is also looking forward to a new rating agency as the present system of gauging TRPs is woefully inadequate. “Hopefully, once the new system is in place, we will have a more authentic gauge of our viewership and listenership” he said.

Prasar Bharati is also in the process of strengthening its social media presence. For instance, DD has 610,000 followers and AIR 510,000 on the twitter and this is not enough. “We need to take a big leap forward,” he said and pointed out that the Republic Day parade video has over two million hits on Youtube and “this is a pointer to the rewards one gets for quality programming”. 

PRCI also felicitated PR professionals with Hall of Fame awards and presented the Chanakya Awards for exemplary performance.