PR professional in shock absorber's role

By Chander Sardana

An investigative correspondent, covering Power & Heavy Industry, of a national daily, got hold of a Parliament question and its answer by the Minister -- six month old. Contents therein, plus inputs from sources other than the Company's PR outfit came handy for his writing an adverse story against that Company. The story appeared on the front page inviting fury of the CMD. He sent for the PR Chief and asked 'what is all this?' To this, PR Chief replied 'Sir, this is based on the Parliament question.' Boss lost his cool and said 'what for have I kept you...and so on and on.' He asked the PR Chief to get lost.

The Author - Sardana

But, then, our PR friend mustered courage, collected all facts on that subject, did his home work and met the Correspondent. After a few pleasantries, he first complimented the correspondent for marshaling information in a highly professional manner. Then, he took out his purse and showed a one Rupee coin. He said this coin has two sides. He also asked him whether or not he would like to know other side of the story. He just could not say No. He said 'Oh, yes, by all means.'

The detailed home work done by him enabled him to explain other side. He did not just leave it at that. He had prepared a fact sheet, without any reference to the story, and handed over that to the correspondent. What more does a correspondent want or need?

Within 8 to 10 days, a story on the same subject appeared on the front page of that daily. Notwithstanding even an acknowledgement or appreciation from the Boss, he patted himself having risen to the occasion and having done a good job. His rapport with the press together with his professionalism paid dividends.

PR Chief remained intact in his job. So did the Correspondent. It was a Win-Win situation.

What this episode teaches us that a PR person has to be like a shock absorbor. He has to listen even words like 'Get lost' from no less a person than the Company's CMD and yet get going through using his contacts within the Company for right inputs and his behavioral-cum-communication skills in getting a positive story carried from the same Correspondent.

For all this, PR person must have confidence in self and in those involved in information game.

#shakti4beti reaches The City of Gardens

By Sumathi Rao

BANGALORE, July 24, 2016 –Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) – celebrated Daughters’ Day in memory of Kalpana Chawla, the Indo-American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to enter space.

For this year’s Daughters’ Day, PRCI  launched #shakti4beti to focus on the burning issue of  the Girl Child,taking the government’s campaign “Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao”further with "Beti Suraksha".

The highlight of the programme was a Street Play by Hashmi theatre Group on various issues faced by the Girl child, ranging from female feticide to gender discrimination and societal challenges.

Stree Play: A street play focuses on #shakti4beti

Speaking on the occasion  Dr Mallika Ghanti ,Vice Chancellor Kannada University Hampi, brought out the differences in perceptions about the girl child in rural and urban  settings, also highlighting the fact that rural folk culture had a healthy respect  for women. She observed that it was surprising to find discrimination in urban  India among educated people.

She suggested we go back to our roots and stressed that it was important for women to find strength in themselves.

Dr Srinivas Prasad CEO Philips  who was the Guest of Honour urged women and girls to be bold and make the  right choices and have confidence in themselves.

Later, a a panel discussion was held on Because I am a Girl focused  on how girls can reach their full  potential, and live free from violence and discrimination, and have equal economic opportunities. In other words they should be able to learn, Lead, decide and thrive.

PRCI  awarded women acheivers on the occasion. Dr Jayalakshmi ,Vedic Sceintist, and

Scholar, Ms Neela Journalist Prajavani, Dr Deepa Shenoy, Computer Specialist Dr 

Sangeetha  and Ashwini Angadi( both visually challenged achievers) were felicitated for their contributions to society.

Powered by Concept PR, #shakti4beti is a nationwide campaign with several corporates too taking interest in empowering the girl child.

It's a clean sweep by PDA @ Mumbai Press Club

MUMBAI, July 22: A record of sorts was created in the history of Mumbai Press Club last night when Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) made a clean sweep of the elections for office bearers and managing committee by winning all 16 seats.

On a day lashed by rains, members came out in large numbers and voted to ensure that the path of progress did not get derailed. As many as 784 journalists braved a bad day to put their stamp of support on the PDA.

 The PDA team also takes this opportunity to thank the opposition team for putting up a good fight and keeping the election process clean and positive.

The results:

 PRESIDENT: Kumar Ketkar

CHAIRMAN: Rajesh Mascarenhas

Cake cutting after sweet victory - PDA panel members

VICE CHAIRMAN: Ayaz Memon

SECRETARY: Dharmendra Jore

JOINT SECRETARY: Rajanish Kakade

TREASURER: Om Prakash Tiwari

 MANAGING COMMITTEE

1.      Santosh Andhale 

2.      Mrityunjay Bose

3.      Lata Mishra

4.      Ashish Subhash Raje

5.      Prakash Ganesh Akolkar

6.      Pravin Vasant  Patil

7.      Abhimanyu Shitole

8.      Amit Shanbaug

9.      Ajit Joshi 340

10.    Sudhakar S. Kashyap 

EMDI sports course – a cut above the rest

For most of us Event Management Training and EMDI, are synonymous. Greycells Education Limited, the Company that focuses on skill training and employability of the youth, owns and runs EMDI – a pioneer in Event Management training for the last 14 years globally (India & Dubai). Over the years the alumni base is over 7500+ which translates into having an Alumni (if not more than a handful!!) in most of the relevant Media Companies.

Having pioneered the concept of Sports Management training with their erstwhile partners, the              Company has now taken Sports Management Training to the next level by launching Ironwood Sports Management Global Academy (www.ironwoodsports.com).

This new age course offering has been developed in conjunction with Global Sports Management Companies and promises to offer students much more than just event management in Sports!

To know more about the Sports Management course, PRapport Editor B N Kumar spoke   to Ms. Bela Desai, Promoter Director of Greycells Education Limited. Excerpts of the interview.

Bela Desai - We Are The Best

PRapport: What prompted you to start the Sports Management Course? Is this a good career option? :

Bela: Greycells pioneered the concept of Sports Management training with its erstwhile partners last year. After industry interactions, we felt the need for a course that addressed Business of Sports and not just Event Management in Sports! The booming sports industry in India beyond cricket and all the leagues offer a good career option for candidates.

PRapport: What kind of jobs that a candidate who passes out this course can look for?:

Bela: The opportunities are huge – sports events, sports sponsorship, sports communication and PR including digital mediums, sports talent management, sports broadcasting, sports media and management, team and league management, sports merchandising etc

PRapport: Are there self-employment opportunities as well? 

Bela: Some areas like sports merchandising, sports marketing and league management, online reputation management etc do have scope for self employment

PRapport: There could be some other institutes running similar courses. What sets your course apart?

Bela: First, our’s is the ONLY new age course where curriculum is designed by global sports management companies; the global course offers guaranteed internships in Dubai; course content focuses on business of sports across all genres of sports beyond cricket; students will have internship opportunities and not just hands on experience of working on sporting events. Plus, the course includes modules for digital medium in sports and more making it a truly new age course.  Pertinent here is that EMDI – one of our brands has been training students in Event Management for over 14 years now.

So we really know what exactly the Industry is looking for in terms of talent. We have consciously stayed away from subjects like medicine and psychology in Sports as these are specialisations. Some Institutions are offering MBA/BBA programs in Sports Management as well. I believe Symbiosis has also launched a BBA in Sports Management this year. Symbiosis is an Institution by itself with faculty to teach Management subjects. Some others are offering a MBA/BBA of Universities under the distance education program.  Students need to verify the credentials, faculties etc before taking a career decision.  Industry relevant vocational skill training is our focus. When students get job ready in a year why would anyone spend 2-3 years!  Our students will clearly have the edge as they will be weaved into the industry a year before their peers.

PRapport:  What will be the faculty? And what are you planning for giving the students a practical training?

Bela: Like all our courses, faculty will be drawn from the Industry and share relevant experience with students. Internships & hands on experience are integral to the course.

EMDI, Forum Building, 1st Floor,11/12 Raghuvanshi Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (West), Mumbai 400 013. 9167755806/61479900

PRapport: A word about EMDI’s other courses?

Bela: Under the same EMDI brand, we offer Post Graduate course in Advertising, PR and Integrated Marketing Communication. This probably is the only one year programme where students get to participate in Comstrat (A FCB ULKA Industry initiative) alongside other courses that are longer duration, have live brief’s, agency visits, industry  internships, modules for Digital medium in advertising  and more. I also had an opportunity to interact with the students at the in-house event – Sparklers. The mentoring that the students received from Industry and core team at EMDI reflected in their work. No wonder, they boast of a 100% placement record for their students.

Let me tell you about WMA or the World Media Academy. It is another initiative from the Company, offers focused industry relevant courses in Digital Marketing and E-Commerce. The blended learning – combination of classroom training, live projects and internships, to my mind, had a definite edge over the vanilla online courses that one comes across all the time. The Industry interface during the course and internships works to the advantage of the students and the 100% placement record for their students.

PRapport: What has been the placement record at EMDI?

Bela: We are fortunate that with over 7500+ alumni in the Industry there is no shortage of  opportunities for students. We take pride to have EMDI Alumnus -  Mr. Ambarish Adhikari – General Manager Business Development at Professional Management Group (PMG) & Ms. Shailee Sanghvi – Managing Director, Center Stage Entertainment as our Advisory Board Members. I am happy to tell you that our Company is following the Skill India initiative of the Government of India in letter and spirit. The nation needs more Greycells to spring up all across to empower the youth of today!!

Senior industry hands join Concept PR

·         Ziegler Colaco of Publicis Beehive joins as CSO

·         Tina Pawar of Everstone heads BFSI vertical head

MUMBAI: In a rapid growth mode, India’s premier public consultancy Concept PR has appointed senior professionals in key positions - Ziegler Colaco as its Chief  Strategy Officer (CSO)  and Tina Pawar as Head of BFSI vertical.

 “As we are undergoing a new growth phase, we keep strengthening our teams as well as our service offerings. We are confident that both Ziegler and Tina will contribute in our endeavour to scale new heights. Also, the team is  feeling enthused as this will give them a super opportunity to learn from the vast experience of these veterans” said Ashish Jalan, CEO and Director of Concept PR.

With an experience of 23 years, Ziegler Colaco has donned Servicing, Planning and Creative hats.

 An MBA in Marketing from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Ziegler began his career in Tata Press as a Management Trainee. He began his advertising career at Lintas, and moved on to Mode and iContract.

 His belief in technology being a Computer Science graduate saw him join Indbazaar.com during the dotcom boom. The subsequent bust did not diminish his belief in technology saw him as an Instructional Design professional at Lionbridge, Learningmate and Aptara.

As they say, you can’t keep an ad guy out of advertising forever! And so Ziegler was back as Client Services Director at Seagull Advertising. Before joining ConceptPR, he was Vice-President – Advertising Services at Publicis Beehive Communications.

 Tina has and over a decade’s experience driving brand and corporate communication programmes for leading multi-national organizations. She was previously with the Everstone Group as their head of Corporate Communications, and prior to that with IIFL and Reliance Capital.

 With her business acumen and knowledge of brands, Tina combines her experience in corporate communications and sound media relations to produce the desired output.

 She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Computer Science) from the University of Mumbai, and a PGeMBA (Finance) from the Asian Management Development Centre. She also holds a certificate in Digital Marketing from the Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA).

About Concept PR

Concept PR is a part of India’s largest communication group: Concept. The much awarded public relations consultancy is powered by over 250 professionals having offices in 10 cities and a pan-India associate network that can execute PR assignments in a hundred cities.

The consultancy is a major player in BFSI, Infrastructure & Real Estate, Engineering Power, Oil & Gas, IT & Telecom, Media, Entertainment & Sports, Education, Healthcare and Diversified Corporates.

Concept PR also has a full-fledged Digital Communications and Investor Relations practices with a sizable and growing clientele.

Media movements update

MEDIA UPDATES

Ananya Dasgupta (Delhi, @ananyadg) says hello to Weber Shandwick and goodbye to CNN News18. She joins Weber Shandwick as Managing Editor and will be responsible for content, brand communications, brand journalism, video storytelling, strategy, and building brand narratives. She was previously also associated with Doordarshan news as Anchor cum Correspondent.

Padmaja Joshi (Delhi, @PadmajaJoshi) joins India Today Group as an Editor. She had her previous innings with Times Now, Headlines Today, and NewsX.

Somak Ghoshal (Bengaluru, @somakghoshal) joins The Huffington Post as Senior Editor. Having had previous stints with Harper Collins, Mint, and The Telegraph.

Sapna Srivastava (Mumbai) embarks on a new endeavor joining exchange4media – Realty Plus as Deputy Editor. She had her previous stints with Buildotech Magazine as Managing Editor, Virtual Info System Pvt. Ltd. as Associate Editor, Indiabulls Real Estate as Media Relations, ITP Publishing Group as Industry Columnist, and Times Group as Guest Columnist.

Kshitiz Goliya (Delhi, @KGoliya), Former Correspondent at Reuters News Agency, now joins HT Mint as Content Creator covering Indian IT sector and Real Estate. He did his internship with The Statesman in 2012 and reported for city section there.

Courtesy Tanvi Agarwall @ Suzlon @ One Source

Of Deadlines and Headlines - BNK Column in Exchange4Media

Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar says about cricket, it’s not over until it’s over! This applies even to a PR consultancy today. Exaggeration it may sound, but the fact is that a PR professional’s job is not over until he does not hear from a journalist for a quote of one of the former’s clients.

Even as we start packing for the day, we invariably get a text message or an email asking for an urgent quote on some issue or the other.

- See more at: http://www.exchange4media.com/advertising/guest-columnof-deadlines-and-headlines-b-n-kumar_65268.html#sthash.8VZOst7K.dpuf

Kerala PRCI unit hoists YCC flag

PRCI Kerala unit has launched it YCC (Young Communicators' Club) recently.  Dr Kalyani Vallath, who is a well known practitioner of Good English is chosen to lead the Chapter.

Prof.( Dr ). A  Ramachandran, Vice Chancellor of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies Launching the Kerala Chapter of YCC. Dr Tessy Antony, Head Dept. of Literature, St Theresas College, YCC Director Dr Kalyani Vallath, PRCI Kerala Chapter Chairman T Vinay Kumar, Secretary and P K Natesh Treasurer are also  seen.

Lines between journalism and PR are blurring, says media veteran in IANS interview

IANS spoke to veteran media professional B.N. Kumar, National President of the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) and Executive Director of Concept PR, who recently completed 40 years in media-first as a journalist and then a PR practitioner-to focus on the rapidly changing communication trends.
-----
Q: What about the relationship between journalists and PR professionals? Is

it still love-hate?

Online Media Clips Collage

A: I don't see anything wrong in journalists looking for information from PR people. It is the PR professionals' job to facilitate the flow of information. And it is for the journalist to check and cross-check whether the information given by PR is right or wrong or a plant-serving a vested interest.

This is where, sometimes, I feel that the lines between PR and journalism get blurred when some media friends play into the hands of unscrupulous story-planters.

Q: Need a little elaboration on this....

A: In these days of cutthroat competition and race for TRPs, journalists are under constant pressure to score with Breaking News. PR professionals often complain that they do not get enough time to respond to media queries and, as a result, one-sided stories often creep in. Also, it is not easy to get negative stories killed. If you try to suppress it in one publication, it will find its way into another media.
The link to the story:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/lines-between-journalism-and-pr-are-blurring-says-media-veteran-116071400220_1.html

Powai traffic island named after slain journo J dey

Secretary, Mumbai Press Club

A little over 5 year ago, on 11 June 2011, senior crime reporter and a fearless investigator, Jyotirmoy Dey, was gunned down amidst a hail of bullets in Hiranandani Gardens, Powai. Everyone knew him as J Dey. A man of few words, he was liked by all. 

As Mid-day’s Editor-Investigations, he was snatched away cruelly at the prime of his career.

J Dey’s killing united us all and the Mumbai Press Club led a campaign to get justice for Dey. The morchas and outpouring put the then Pritviraj Chavan government on the back foot, and the police scrambled to arrest suspects and find motives for the murder. A dubious police officer who had tried to hide the trail was suspended, some sharp-shooters who executed the assassination were caught; and the police tried to create red herring trail by planting stories against J Dey to divert attention from the main trail.

The Mumbai Press Club fought long and hard to have the case transferred to the C.B.I. and went up to the Supreme Court. But to no avail. The Mumbai Police wouldn’t let go. They named gangster Chota Rajan as the man who coordinated the killing, and blamed and arrested journalist Jigna Vohra as the main culprit who had ‘instigated’ Chota Rajan on account of ‘professional rivalry’. Ultimately, Jigna Vohra, arrested under the dreaded MCOC Act, was released on bail for lack of evidence 8-9 months later; and the investigation did not go beyond Chota Rajan.

Ironically, the gangster was arrested a little over a year ago, and all cases where he was involved have now been transferred to the C.B.I. – something we had demanded 5 years ago. Nailing down crucial details of J Dey’s killing – who was behind the trigger and what was the motive – is still wide open.

Unfortunately, we have short memories, and for most of us J Dey is dead and buried. However, the Mumbai Press Club continued its ‘Justice for J Dey’ campaign. To mark his contribution to journalism and to his brand of fearless crime reporting, the Club has been successful in convincing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to name the Powai Garden’s D-Mart Chowk as ‘J Dey Chowk’.

At a solemn ceremony, the plaque for the ‘J Dey Chowk’ – just across the road from where he was gunned down – was unveiled by Mumbai Mayor Snehal Ambekar, on today.

The inauguration of the J Dey Chowk is a very important event for us journalists. It not only is a mark to the memory of the fighter J Dey; it is also a reminder that the case is not closed and the investigation and perhaps arrest of some of the main killers is still on the agenda.

The chowk is also a remembrance for nearly a dozen journalists who have died in the line of duty in recent months in what is seen as amongst the worst periods of media freedom for this country.

Mint movements - Ira back to TV

Media Update @ One Source

A compiled update here  Rejig in Mint Mumbai-Ravi Krishnan, Associate Editor and Columnist in Mark to Market section has been elevated as the New Chief of Mumbai Bureau. *Along with Ira Duggal, lot others have put in their papers.. PR Sanjai, Ashish Mishra, Pooja Sarkar and Amrita Pillay
* Aparna Iyer who is currently in the banking bureau is being moved to Mint money team with Manas Chakraborty
* PR Sanjai is joining Bloomberg
* Pooja Sarkar is joining ET
*Amrita Pillay to Business Standard and Ira Duggal to bloomberg quint

Courtesy Jaspreet Kaur @ GBM @ One Source

Kerala YCC launch on July 13

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)