As we cross the 9,000 mark in the global page-views
of PRapport, we have some more happy news to share.
The viewership in the US has crossed 4500 and in India 4000!
PRCI has successfully worked out a deal with
Mumbai University’s Journalism department.
They have agreed in principle to actively participate
in YCC not only by encouraging their students to join in, but to ask over 80
(yes E I G H T Y) colleges teaching mass media courses to start their own YCC
activities.
To begin with, we will run a contest on our 10th
Global Communication Conclave theme – Digital Now; What Next – among all mass
media students and pick up a 3-member team to be sent to Kolkata. Once we
finalise the format, we can run similar exercises in journalism colleges across
our Chapter cities and for a final team for YCC session at Kolkata.
I am sure, we can have students from at least
Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, apart from the host city Kolkata.
Mumbai University is planning to hold an all-India
meet and asked for our involvement and support. PRCI will be partner. Our logo
will go on all material, including mementos. The theme will mostly be ‘The Changing
Trends in Communication’ and the plan is to involve media persons as well.
Mumbai University has also requested us to nominate
people from our ‘Guest Faculty Pool’ for lectures time to time. No problem. We have
enough and more people.
Finally, Mumbai University is oganising a
workshop on Development Journalism for media educators from different government
and private institutes, pan-India. It will be a virtual class room. You will be
happy to know that your President – National Executive will anchor and be the
Resource Person!
Meanwhile we had a group of BMM students from Tilak College (pictured)
to our office and we planted the idea of YCC in their minds.
Meanwhile, some hackers found it worthwhile to
hack into our web site last week. We quickly detected and now had the site shut
for a couple of days. Now its up and running.
Before I sign off, here is the customary stats table on PRapport.
(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information
Officer &
Govt. Spokesperson)
Political communication, the oxygen of an open, functioning
democracy like India, is at the present moment choked with vituperative
confrontation. Te recent parliamentary proceedings and the TV debates have
left much to be desired as far as the behaviour of our political leaders. The
political institutions supposed to be dedicated for leading the healthy
discussions at national and State capitals have become non-functional and
alternative channels like media and social media have taken over. In this tit-for-tat
era, it is instructive for students of communication like me to take a look
at the evolution of political communication from the freedom movement to the
present. I am sure, as you read, you will agree with me!
Political
communication (PC) is the oxygen of a democracy like India. When it purposefully
moves through the body politic, it will keep the heart and mind of the
democratic polity healthy. It follows from the premise that the PC comes from
many voices and in many hues, making the Indian democracy vibrant and colourful.
One of the most respected scholars on
Political Science, Earnest Barker in Reflections on Government calls democracy
as the revolution by consent. He pays a great tribute to India by reproducing
the preamble to our Constitution as his Forward to another book of his.
According to Barker, this preamble epitomises the best in western social and
political theory that developed over three centuries. The preamble, along with
the chapters on Fundamental Rights, (of which the rights to freedom of expression,
practice of faith and profession, are critical parts), and the Directive
Principles of State Policy set the framework for our political communication.
Charkha - symbol of the original political communication
The
evolution of political communication in India runs parallel with the political
development of India from the 18th century. This background is
essential for understanding PC. The inspiration for political communication and
its broad socio-political agenda came from decades of freedom movement that
preceded Independence. It initially addressed the elites of India at home and
the political opinion makers in Britain. Leading intellectuals of the time such as Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Srinivasa
Shastri adopted the British political
communication styles and modes as they believed in changing the colonial rule
while working from inside. In contrast, Balagangadhar Tilak and several others
wanting to change the system while remaining outside of it, took a more
strident stand. Tilak’s famous statement:’ Freedom is My Birth Right’ echoed in
his newspaper Kesari, stands out and posed a direct political challenge to the
British. With this began the political communication of confrontation.
Gandhiji’s differed from Tilak in so far as the means for achieving this birth
right. His peaceful civil disobedience, that set the tone for freedom struggle
morphed into mass Satyagraha movement. This was a mission, a medium as well as a
message all rolled into one. It galvanised the ordinary people who were
recipients of political communication and became its messengers.
Wrapping
PC around symbols drawn from the common
man’ s everyday life such as making of salt, making one’s own cloth from Charkha and Khadi (to teach self -reliance),
burning of British cloth (Swadeshi) for infusing national pride and arouse
anger against colonial suppression of Indian enterprise were part of Gandhiji’s
master stroke series! In an era when there was no media, the use of symbols
(wearing the trade-mark lion cloth, half dhoti and displaying of bare chest,
and symbolic acts like Dandi march, fasting, travelling by III class coaches,
courting arrest, prayer meeting followed by discourse, Prabhat Pheris all
became the political media and the message of
a mass movement.
Scholars’ Perspectives: The
broad features PC adopted by leaders at this stage of India’s political development
very tightly fits in with the definition of ‘political communication’ given by
leading scholars on the subject. R.E Denton and G.C Woodward in their Political
Communication in America characterise it as the ways and intentions of message
senders to influence the political environment. Another view is that the key
factor that makes communication ‘political’ is not the source of a message, (sender and form of
communication such as speeches, media coverage, ordinary citizens’ ‘talk’,
public discussions) but its content and purpose. Another group of scholars emphasise
the ‘strategic nature of political communication in which the role of
persuasion in political discourse is critical. It is noteworthy that PC has to
be ‘strategic’ strategic’ for influencing public knowledge, beliefs and action on
politics. For some writers, PC covers verbal or written communication as well
as visual representations such as dress (Gandhi cap, wearing of Khadi clothing,
dhoti, by politicians), make –up, hairstyle (Indira Gandhi’s famous silver
streak and wearing of simple sarees in public appearances) and party symbols
and various other props to establish political identity. In PR terms, we call
it as Image management.
Allow
me to get into some nitty-gritty since its relevant in the context of current
political communication scenario.
A
writer regards strategic political communication
(SPC) as comprising ‘PC that is manipulative in intent, that utilises social
scientific techniques and heuristic devices to understand human motivations,
human behaviour and the media environment, to inform what should be
communicated and what should be withheld, with the aim of taking into account
and influencing public opinion, and creating strategic alliances and an
enabling environment for the policies of the political establishment-at home
and abroad. The PC that emanated from the freedom movement leaders stands up
remarkably well to all the above cited academic frameworks and attributes defining PC.
Initially,
available media in the form of newspapers, pamphlets and widely publicised
petitions to the Imperial government in London complemented the political
campaign for gaining Indian representation in the governing system of India.
Then came the trend of leaders of freedom movement like Gopalakrihna Goghale
(The Maratha, Servants of India Soceity journal) and Balagangadha Tilak
(Kesari) starting their own news
newspapers. Having one’s own communication vehicle also increased the political
clout of such leader-publishers. Gandhiji’s Harijan and Navjeevan were not only
his political instruments but also vehicles for propagating his social reform
mission. If one glances through the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi running into
more than one hundred volumes, he was an incessant writer of letters and most
of them were loaded with political messages. Separately, publishers of
newspapers in different languages arrived in support of the struggle for
independence, especially after Gnadhiji took over its leadership. These
newspaper owner–publishers were observers of the movement as reporters or even
commentators. At the same time, they became participants in the freedom
movement by making their newspapers as its
campaign vehicles. It was not usual for such owner-publishers to hitch
their newspaper to one or the other leader. These publications came to be known
as ‘nationalist newspapers’. Their credibility and influence (if not their
circulation) grew in direct proportion to the government’s action to block
them. It was not unusual for literate participants in the struggle to make a
digest of news relating to the movement published in newspapers and circulate
among the people who had no access to them. In my own house in Mysore, my elder
brother and sister and their friends were engaged in this work. The word of
mouth played a significant role in rallying the illiterate people.
Media’s Legacy: This
‘participatory role’ of Indian
newspapers had a profound impact on the way the newspapers functioned,
including their content in the first decade of independence. The
newspapers could not shed their perspectives and orientation as less than
critical followers of leaders. As Inder Malhotra, a senior journalist noted in
a newspaper column that the newspapers adulation of leaders made them blind to
the blind–spots of leaders who had now become rulers. If one examines the
contents of newspapers of this period, they continued the practice of
reproducing the speeches and statements of politicians and official press
releases (the practice of printing verbatim Rastrapati Bhavan’s daily press notes
of President’s engagements - an imperial legacy- was stopped in 1972). Among the staff,
political correspondents outnumbered the other reporters, causing heavy
coverage of political news. Only a shock like the Indian army’s debacle in the
Sino-Indian war of 1962 made them sit up, get out of their awe of erstwhile
leaders of the freedom movement and ask
questions normally raised by journalists in a democracy. Of course, there were
exceptions to this practice but such exceptions were drowned out by
cheer-leaders. PC had to wait for many more years to emerge as communication
for empowering citizenry to hold the rulers accountable. This clearly establishes
that PC as a theme and its consequences for the evolution of economic and
political policies deserves deeper academic studies.
Immortalised at Sabarmati
The Government Media: On
the colonial government’s side, there were a few newspapers like the Statesman,
Civil and Military Gazette and others.The government’s political communication
translated many times into brutal action against the freedom movement, like
incarceration of its leaders, mass lathi-charge and censorship of newspapers.
This
action had twin effects. The first was the case for freedom emerged stronger,
attracting an increased number of people into the struggle. The other was to
make the political opinion in Britain to sit up in horror and search for a
compromise. Not only the press in Britain but also the media in the US began to
focus on the freedom struggle and the political communication, indirectly.
As
and when the British government came up with constitutional reforms like
Minto-Morley Reforms, later Montague and Chelmsford Reforms and the Cripps
Mission, the government made efforts to put across its point of views through
the official machinery. An Information department was created within the Home
affairs department. The Indian involvement in the first and second World Wars moved the government to scale up its information (propaganda) dissemination
machinery .The radio, named AIR/Akashavani came in 1927 and acquired the
tradition of working as the megaphone of the government. Ownership of radio
sets was limited but as a novel electronic media wielded a great influence and
increased the velocity of the word of mouth. The PR wing of the
government-Press Information Bureau (PIB) was set up in mid-1930s. Its first
chief J.Henessy in a first of its kind submitted an official report containing
PIB’s performance to the government. In this meticulously compiled report, he
tried to correlate the use of government money on PR and media relations with
the output and impact. In table after table, he records the column centimetres
of space gained in newspapers through press releases and other activates.
Perhaps this was the first and the last such attempt by an official media unit to
hold itself accountable to the money spent by it.
The author sunarendra@gmail.com
The birth
of official journals like the defence magazine Sainik Samachar (Ruskin Bond was
associated with it), PIB and AIR during the Raj laid the foundations for the
development of a larger official media system after Independence. The launch of
five year plans for socio-economic development in 1952 moved the government to expand this official ‘publicity’
set up with the addition of field publicity vans for contact with the people, an advertising
wing (DAVP), Song And Drama division for harnessing folk media, and the
Publications Division for publishing books and official journals like Yojana,
Kurukhetra (for publicising CD or Community development movement, an idea of
S.K.Dey, a favourite of Nehru). Doordarshan made its appearance in 1959 but
acquired momentum in 1970s with SITE experiment. While the official media
machinery’s stated role was to spread awareness about development among the
people for bringing about their participation in it, in practice they have been
used by governments of all hues for political communication. The never
ending debate about their use and abuse
by governments in office is now part of
political communication and electoral code of conduct for contestants in
elections. (https//Spokesperson,blogspot)
KOLLAM: Kerala Club Times, official Newsletter of the
Association of Registered Social Clubs of Kerala (ARSCK) was officially
released at a function held at Ramavarma Club, Kollam by the President T.Vinay
Kumar.
Vinay Kumar, who is also the Secretary of Public
Relations Council of India (PRCI), Kerala Chapter, handed over a copy of the
publication to Adv. Philip Abraham, Secretary of Ramavarma Club Alleppey (picturted).
Advt. Jacob A Panampunna, President of Rama Varma Club,
Kollam, Association Secretary G. Anil Kumar, Co-ordinating Editor Advt. Jays
John, Association Treasurer Josekutty Xavier are also seen in this picture.
CHANDIGARH: Over 30 members of the Public Relations
Council of India (PRCI) participated in a highly interactive session on “What
do corporates look for when selecting a PR Agency’ organized by the Chandigarh
Chapter of PRCI at the Chandigarh Press Club.
PRCI Chandigarh Chapter Chairman Aneesh Bhanot addressing the session
The Panelists included Mr. Priya Ranjan Vaid, Head,
Public Relations, Internal Communication and CSR, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Ms.
Ritu Nag, Head, Media and Communications, Max Hospital, Mohali.
The session was
moderated by Mr. Aneesh Bhanot while Ms. Renuka Salwan talked about the latest
initiatives of PRCI.
I have a point, too!
During the session, discussion took place on whether a
corporate should hire a large, national agency or a boutique agency which
focused on local geographies.
The plus and minus points of the various options were
analysed and discussed in detail.
Mr. Priya Ranjan Vaid and Ms Ritu Nag then explained the
various criteria and focus areas a corporate looks at when hiring a PR Agency.
They also gave their opinion on whether an external
agency is required or if an Internal PR person can suffice and what is the
right time for a company to opt for an external PR Agency.
According to Mr. Aneesh Bhanot, Chairman, PRCI Chandigarh
Chapter, “The session was highly informative and helped upgrade the knowledge
and skills of the PR fraternity. It would help the PR industry to grow and
develop further in the region in a structured, professional manner.”
Highly attentive delegates at the session Expectations from PR!
A Communicator’s
experience - Licence Raj to Economic Reforms
This TVC just about sums up PEPSI story in the reforms saga! By S.Narendra
(Former
Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer
and
Government Spokesperson)
Continuing the series ‘Mule
in a Turn Club’ on challenges faced by communication machinery during the
transition from License Raj to Reforms and how one dealt with stubborn
officials and politicians when some sections feared that FDI would mean direct
threat to homemade Bhujia...
If
we want to eat bhujia with our meals as a side dish or mix it with ‘Bhelpuri’ or just munch, we go to a corner
‘Halwai’ shop or a ‘Kirana’ shop, tear
off a packet with the salty stuff dangling from
a string of air-tight packets. Often the packet bears the familiar names
like Haldiram, Bikanerwala or MTR. No one in India had imagined in 1990s that some Indian city specific ‘Halwais’ would become
international brands with a huge range of packed ready-to-eat food stuff
successfully competing with MNCs like PEPSI. It may sound strange when I recall
that in 1992, our Parliament was discussing a dire threat to the Indian Bhujia coming
from FDI .
Another East India Company?:
India seems to have begun her economic development journey with a deep
suspicion of foreign firms, especially MNCs. This was somewhat
natural because the nation was fighting off its memories of an exploitative
East India Company that had morphed into a colonial empire that had
systematically underdeveloped its colonies. Mrs Indira Gandhi had launched an
all out fight against transnational or multi-national corporations painting
them as predators. PEPSI that had
entered Punjab in 1988-89 as a joint
venture with Indian firms such as Voltas
and RPG group ,with promises of 2,50,000 jobs in militancy –hit Punjab itself
and an equal number outside, but reneged on its
promises. The political system reacted adversely when P.V.Narasimha Rao
government liberlaised the FDI guidelines and FIPB was discussing the PEPSI
proposal to up its investment to $100 million and diversify its operations from selling sweet bottled water to food
processing,
On
the one side, the government was desperately trying to attract foreign
investment by mounting road shows for foreign investors, and simultaneously assuring the domestic political and public opinion that it would allow only
such foreign investment that does not hurt Indian businesses. Ironically, the
sections that were bitterly opposed to FDI were twitting the government that it
had nothing to show as FDI one year after liberalizing the economy. The
government was looking upon this as an ‘anchor’ investment in the sense that
once a transnational corporate like PEPSI show confidence in India, the move
could encourage other biggies to follow suit.
The Opposition parties along with some business houses had picked PEPSI’s plans
to introduce Bjujia as the ordinary person was familiar with it and, therefore,
his (or her) ire could be aroused .
PEPSI Public Affairs in Play:
As per a study by a management school alumni, there were 20 Parliament debates
spread over half a decade, and
monumental PR campaign, including a rare concession by a powerful PEPSI to alter
its brand name to Lehar PEPSI. India was not yet allowing foreign brand names. The
company’s ‘public affairs’ was working overtime to win its sub-continental game. This strategic public affairs campaign was
moving on three fronts but had
kept the rich and large ‘contract farmers’,
as its core ( Indian land ceiling
law was a hindrance to
food processing companies like PEPSI
that wanted to partner with and
procure from single or few farm producers. This was overcome by
‘contract farming’. It had engaged the
contract farmers through agricultural extension work including provision of
seeds and farm technology for growing imropved varieties of Tamatoes, chillies,
potatoes and other farm produce needed for its pizza hut and other eateries. PEPSI
also claimed that it was offering remunerative prices to contract farmers. By initially
making the Punjab government’s Agro –Industries Corporation as partner, it had
co-opted the state government, with the approval of the centre. P.M. Sinha as
CEO of its Indian arm was keeping the government in good humour. At the
other end, through aggressive market research, PEPSI had reached out to the
young consumers as well as a long supply chain of service providers,
transporters, small and big retail outlets). The MNC had organised regular
visits by MPs, MLAs and media to contract farms in Punjab. In its own business
interest PEPSI had effectively implemented a very successful CSR (of sorts).
PEPSI Tomatoes in Parliament: Of the
dozens of debates on PEPSI controversy that took place in Parliament, the one
in 1992 was remarkable for the turnaround in the political fortunes of PEPSI. When members from the left and BJP were
attacking the government for allowing PEPSI to enlarge its operations, the Parliament
members from Punjab rose in unison to counter the criticism. Some of them even
produced in the House the new varieties
of Tomatoes, chillies they were growing
with assistance from PEPSI to support their argument that PEPSI FDI was in the long term interest of farmers. Suddenly, the debate
was no longer between the opposition and
the government but was between the members of the House. In a moment, the
technological benefits accruing to a backward traditional sector like
agriculture from FDI got showcased. And, all the other sins of commission and
omission from the PEPSI venture thus far were forgotten. When PEPSI enters a
territory you can expect Coca Cola and its McDonalds to follow. And,20 years down the
line, its tag line ‘Dil Mange More’ has become
a common expression. its present
international CEO Indra Nooyi presents PEPSI
India as one of the most profitable arms, with sizable export earnings.
In
the first wave of liberalisation, the government was careful to assure that FDI
would be allowed only in limited number of sectors and certain sectors
including defence were designated as “strategic’ and no FDI was permitted and
yet the government faced fierce
opposition. FDI in media was an anathema then. Contrast this with 2014, when
NDA government announced FDI in defence and Railways,. there was not even a murmur
of protest.
A Budget Surprise:Outside the
government there is an incorrect
impression that the prime minster and the cabinet would be privy to all
major budget annoucnements. The reality is that the cabinet, sometimes even PM ,come
to know of the key budget proposals an hour or two before the presentation of the budget in Parliament. Mrs Gandhi as PM did
not know that her finance minister, Morarji Desai, would propose to bring
agriculture under the wealth tax in his 1967 budget. As Morarji Desai was concluding
his budget presentation, she passed on a chit to him to withdraw it. In 1992, budget
of Dr.Manmohan Singh, there was an announcement
to cut subsidies to DAP (nutrient) fertilisers and reduction in the price of
Urea by 10%.The PM was taken unawares. That evening, the then agriculture
minister. Balram Jhakkar, threatened to
quit.
At this time around, the farm sector was on
the decline decline. The opposition, particularly BJP, had initiated a grapevine
campaign that If India enters the World Trade Organisation, farmers would not
be able grow their own seeds. Widespread
disquiet was spreading against Rao’s steps to reorient the economy to come to terms
with market forces. The small cut in fertiliser subsidy , was both untimely
and impolitic as this played into the hands of opponents of reforms
who were already proclaiming the government to be pro-business and anti-farmers and anti-poor.
This situation required some deft handling at
the political level by the prime minister. He cleverly set
up a committee under an MP belonging to the left parties to review the fertiliser
subsidy and bought time. This also bailed out the finance minister who was in a
hurry to cut all subsidies for reducing the budget deficit, as required under
the IMF/World bank terms. In the meanwhile, on the communication front, as head
of DAVP and concurrently being the government Spokesperson, I had
to equivocate a lot for a while. I delayed publication of any print material on
the subject until the concerned department gave me clear answers to a list of
key questions that I had submitted. The Parliament committee report on
fertiliser subsidy that came months later led diluted the Budget proposals and a
larger political consensus on the subsidy issue.
Reforms With a Human Face; Prime Minister
Rao was criticised as a ‘reluctant reformer’ for not supporting some drastic
reforms like conversion of the Indian
Rupee on capital account. He was also damned as a ‘populist’ for steeply
enhancing spending on Rural Development and introducing several schemes like
centrally funded school midday meal, Targetted Public Distribution, Group
Insurance for farmers and the poor,
Employment Assuracne scheme for agricultural and migrant labour, a $500
million National Renewal Fund for retraining workers affected by disinvestment
or downsizing of PSUs and many others.
Narasimha Rao was first one in PMO to have faced the political dilemmas
of an economic reformer in a transitional society and an economy with people at several economic levels. He was under pressure
from his own finance minister who was pressing for faster market orientation of
the economy with its greater integration
with the global scenario. While offering
full political backing to Dr. Singh,
and commerce minister
P.Chidmabaram, the prime minister chose to cede the title of ‘reformers’ to these gentlemen, while he set out to address
the larger constituency of the poor and the disadvantaged who were likely to
bear immediate costs of economic
changes. As he explained to me, this was not due to electoral compulsions alone
but a genuine concern for large sections of fellow citizens who could be left
behind by market forces. In his own
words, reforms must be ‘calibrated’ to suit each politico-economic
situation in order to make them sustainable.
As mentioned in the previous article, he used
the AICC session held at Tirupati in April,1992 for propounding his view that
the government will take on a new role on behalf of people who are outside the
market forces. He accepted my suggestion to use Gandhiji’s description of the
disadvantaged as Daridranarayan who would become the government’s main concern.
Reforms with a Human face: Giving a briefing to me and his junior
minister for Rural Development, Rameshwar Thakur, for ‘publicity’, the prime
minister told us that our job was to convince the rural India and the poor that the government was not
about to abandon them. He said that he wanted to create a ‘social safety net’
that was to be the main focus of our publicity. Rao also gave the title to this
campaign as Reforms with a Human Face. That message was to be woven into all
his public speeches.
Following such instructions, I travelled
to states frequently to get a firsthand account
of the progress of pro-poor schemes and
arrange for human interest stories that could be used in TVCs and advertising
campaigns. There were more than 60 odd
schemes spread over several ministries with low disposition to officiai information. It was also a fact that
very often they did not possess the latest information and were unfamiliar with
the requirements of a
sustained campaign. We began to compile
a monthly report of progress of
schemes and sent out our own teams for gathering human interest stories which
could be used in media. My orgationisation, PIB, had earmarked
funds for arranging group or individual
media persons field visits. My advantage was that the PM was not put off by
media reports of misuse of government schemes and he took them as vital feedback.
However, his worry was that the states were using the central schemes for
deriving political benefit but the blame of ineffective implementation of
programmes was laid at his door. This was a political problem that had to be
dealt through political communication whi h was failing. In order to make the
village Panchayats aware of the funds available for various schemes in their
jurisdiction, we tried to use village walls as media but it needed local
cooperation.
The author sunarendra@gmail.com
My attempts to introduce fellowships for
interested media persons in reporting social and rural development got
caught up in bureaucratic red- tape. For the first time, we organised a three-day
Social Development Conference for Media by inviting representatives from all
ovber the country for interaction with policy makers in Delhi. This first
attempt clearly showed that regional mediapersons’ professional inadequacy in
reporting social change issues. As such change takes place over time, it was
not breaking news. Both Doordarshan and Radio, as a result, became the
principal vehicles for mounting programmes on such vexed themes. As audiences
began to access satellite channels and other media, such public service
programmes on official channels made the latter less and less popular.
Communication is politics in the sense that it tries to influence people in one
way or the other and the practitioner can be surprised by unintended outcomes
from his efforts.
All in all, the communication attempted for
the human face of reforms left us with mixed results. Writing about my
experiences now in 2015, make me wonder about the political fortunes of
Chandrababu Naidu, the new AP CM, who is
re-enacting a Narasimha Rao act; and, so also that of the present Prime
Minister Narendra Modi who is projecting pro-poor stance, shedding his label as
a pro-business CEO of Gujarat.
As pageviews of PRapport have crossed the
8,000 mark (8,055, to be exact), friends in theUS have overtaken the India.
The following chart captures the latest data.
Pageviews by Countries
Entry
Pageviews
United States
3743
India
3692
Germany
195
United Kingdom
58
Hong Kong
58
Singapore
49
France
30
United Arab Emirates
23
Portugal
14
Spain
13
This has become possible only due to the ever increasing
interest in the e-magazine which soon will take the shape of a full-fledged
professional website with not only thought provoking content but communication
tools and skill development programmes.
Only then will PRCI aims and objectives will begin to be
fulfilled.
CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh Chapter of Public Relations Council of India is organising a Panel Discussion which will be especially helpful to PR professionals who are looking at adding new clients to their roster or retaining existing clients.
It would also be of immense value to corporates who already have PR agencies on board or are looking at retaining a Agency in the near future. Start-ups will also benefit as they will be able to understand the merits of hiring a PR Agency and what should they look for in their agency of choice.
Expert Corporate Communication specialists include :
Mr. Priya Ranjan of Airtel,
Ms. Megha Sandhu of Fortis and
Ms. Ritu Nag of Max Hospital.
The event will be held on: Saturday, August 8, 2015 at 5 pm Venue: Chandigarh Press Club, Sector 27, Chandigarh
Registration: Due to limited space, prior Registration is necessary and can be done by sending a mail giving details of the delegates attending the Panel Discussion to amit@icatchers.co.in
Registration Fee: The Panel Discussion is free for PRCI members and Rs.150 per head for non-members (Rs.100 for students). The Registration fee can be paid at the venue itself. Kindly nominate members from your organization for the session
PRCI, Chandigarh, looks forward to your registration and seeing you there.
Amit Roy,
Hon. Secretary
Public Relations Council of India, Chandigarh Chapter
9501101071
to our office and we planted the idea of YCC in their minds.
