I never sell The News - Arnab Goswami @ Republic: On air in a week

(By a special arrangement with www.mxmindia.com)

Months after Arnab Goswami proclaimed independence for news, the nation still wants to know as to when his new channel Republic will be launched. While the billboards are all across the country say 'With You Soon', let’s us hear from the man himself, Arnab, about his plans, his views. Excerpts from a chat Pradyuman Maheshwari, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of MXM India, has with Arnab:

So the question which, let me ask with a non-trademarked statement: India wants to know when is the launch?

Very soon, it’s a matter of days now. You’ve seen my newsroom, it’s buzzing with energy, I’m trying to get the product as close to being perfect as possible. There’s nothing like an absolutely perfect launch though. But having said that, we’re trying to sort of stitch things together… bring all parts of the piece together, get the team to integrate, believe in themselves, believe in the product, believe in the news they putout… get very, very familiar with the technology they are using because some of the technology you’re using here is…

Different?

Completely, completely new age. And so I want that familiarisation process to carry on so I’m not setting a hard date for launch yet, though if you ask me can I launch? I can launch right now.

So no Akshay Trittiya launch, April 28th?

No, no-no.

May 1, Maharashtra Day, Gujarat Day…

No, I don’t believe in these any commemorative events or dates. I believe every day is good for news… we should just have a good run, go with the flow.

But surely you need to inform the distribution folks?

The distribution guys are more or less informed. I think most of the people are aware of our channel being launched. In fact, we’re getting a push from the distribution guys to launch early. Some places have already started putting up promos on air in anticipation of our launch; our media campaign should be starting soon. So we are almost there.

The question is that, the last mile, 4-5 days here or there should be a discretion of the producers of the channel. So whenever the producer of the channel says we’re okay to go, I’ll go.

So, plus or minus the 4-5 days, May 10, May 1?

Yes. I would say, yes, pretty much around that.

For the full version of the free-wheeling chat, please check: http://www.mxmindia.com/2017/04/up-close-with-arnab-goswami/ 

United Airlines Incident: A PR Case Study on How Not to Handle Crisis!

By S Narendra

(Former adviser to PMs and ex Spokesperson, Govt of India)

A paid passenger of United Airlines was dragged out of his seat to make room for the airline crew. Videos showed the passenger forcibly dragged out of his seat and later running  back to his seat with blood on his face. Videos of the incident went viral.

United Airlines shares soon declined by 7%.And, UA has become the butt of jokes and UA competitors came out with their own take such as this one from South West airlines: ‘We Beat Competition, Not You’.

UA CEO’s  first reaction was to defend the staff action. He went on to describe the passenger, an American citizen and a   doctor of Vietnamese origin as ‘ disruptive’. A statement from UA tried to defend its action as routine with legal sanction. It was claimed that when an airline over-books, it can off load passengers. In US airlines routinely overbook and when required to off load passengers, they ‘incentivise volunteers' by offering sweet deals, 

In the present case, UA allowed passengers to board the aircraft and then decided to off load. Force was used to yank out passengers selected at random for off loading. Normally, off loading takes place at boarding gate before allowing passengers into the aircraft. In this case there was the possibility of inviting racial bias.

UA CEO did not factor this in while issuing his first statement.

After the video went viral, damaging the reputation of UA and inviting share holders’ ire, the airline  came with another statement regretting the incident, but not a full apology. No action was proposed against the concerned staff.

When things went out of control with criticism mounting, the CEO came out with apology (media reported that he refused to resign taking responsibility for the unseemly incident). By then a petition with 150,000 signatures demanding CEO’s resignation had become public.

In a damage control effort, UA announced full refund of  the fares to all passengers on the flight.

In the meanwhile, the passenger who was dragged out of aircraft was  in a hospital and his lawyers had approached a court with a plea  to ensure that all evidence of the incident  be preserved.

Sadly, UA did not come out with a statement how it was compensating the victim for the ill -treatment meted out to him. Nor did the the CEO or some senior UA official go to meet the victim and his family with a wholesome apology and settle the matter privately,

The author

The image and reputation of UA has suffered an irreparable damage. Clearly shows the CEO was not up to the job. His first intervention was a classic case of mismanagement as he did not show concern for cash customers, an airline’s biggest asset. The video showed a bloodied passenger that should have alerted CEO that something more than ordinary , routine off loading' had taken place.

The wholesale refund offer to all passengers showed that UA had messed up but this gesture was a classic case of too-little-too-late.

A bad situation had turned into a first class crisis and reputation mismanagement as the CEO did not steer UA out of the mess but brought upon it a crisis with his unwise first reaction.

The big question that arises now is what were the PR experts engaged by UA doing other than building up a crisis step by step?

How UP was won - a Political Communication Analysis

By Dr C.V. Narasimha Reddi

The stunning victory of Mr Narendra Modi with over 320 seats in the state Assembly of 403 seats, is indeed a Tsunami that no one predicted as the party vote share jumped from just 15% in 2012 to 39.6% in 2017. “This will usher in a big change in the Indian Politics” said Amit Shah.

Three Pronged Strategy

What could be the reason for such a massive mandate? An objective analysis of results and media reports reveal that Mr. Narendra Modi as an icon of the party with Amit Shah Party President as a strategic tactician (action man) evolved a three pronged strategy to win the war of UP elections. It includes: Modi's ideology and his development schemes; propaganda and communication strategy and the third most important one is grassroots communication through booth level samithies.

Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas - an idea that clicked

Ideology and Performance Indicators

First, the BJP has evolved a content strategy based on its ideology and high performance indicators of welfare schemes. They include:

•    Creation of a sectarian division between Hindus and Muslims by not having fielded a single Muslim on the 403 Assembly seats. A sense of loyalty developed by Hindus towards BJP

•    BJP’s viewpoint against triple talaq to woo muslim women.

•    It is not caste that matters but development said Modi Ji which has broken the caste ridden society of Uttar Pradesh, by highlighting that one needed development, innovation, a new sense of spirit to eradicate poverty and not the old lethargic caste based reservations.

•    The Prime Minister address to the nation on demonetisation watched and heard by millions of people created a war resonated so strongly with the poor for establishing an equitable society, who became his captive vote bank. As a result Mr. Modi not only became pro-poor but also anti-corruption crusader. In the process, a type of social coalition has been created comprising the poor, the new middle class, marginalised sections of other backward classes and dalits. This has been a strong point in favour of BJP.

•    The B.S.P's strategy Dalit - Muslim vote bank has been shattered by social coalition.

Along side ideological connotations, the BJP's election strategy included the achievements of NDA Government’s welfare schemes during the last two years. Among others, the credits of the Government comprise make in India, the concept of 'Roti Kapda and Makan’ (Food, Clothing and Shelter) for the poor, national policy for farmers, “Phade Bharat Badhe Bharat”, “Aam Aadmi Bhima Yojna”, Prime Minister’s foreign travels that brought 'Samman' to India, Skill India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan etc. Other welfare schemes that were included in the strategy cover: the initiation of 52 lakh gas connections to women in UP as well as disbursal of Rs. 20,000 crore loans through the Mudra Bank and opening of three crore Jan Dhan accounts.

If the recent notebandi topped the list of achievements, sending of 104 satellites to space by ISRO in one go became an added value to boost the image of Modi Government.

Amit Shah - Big  Change in
Political Communication

Multi-media Propaganda Campaign

All these ideological and performance indicators were sold to the electorate more forcefully and effectively through a strong multi-media propaganda campaign. Second part of the election strategy was, therefore, a multi-media communication and propaganda campaign to reach out to the electorate. Media included: interpersonal media, folk arts, mass media – newspapers, radio, TV and social media – facebook, twitter, youtube, etc. The Prime Minister’s speeches in the course of his Man Ki Baath, radio broadcasts, TV news and speeches delivered in India and abroad, election rallies, and his views expressed on the stump made more impact on the voters mind, particularly, those who are exposed to mass media.

Modi’s Dress

GandhiJi's dress made all the more difference for the people to identify him as a man of the people in the freedom struggle. Similarly, Modi's dress, overt change in style and his energetic personality – all created an effective veneer around his political style which has added to his vote catching power among all sections of the people including the Dalits.

Among all, Mr. Modi is an excellent orator whose oration with parables not only attracted the attention of the public but also influenced their mindset towards his ideology. One of the strategies has been his punch dialogues such as SP Leader Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi were described as “old furniture”, while BSP leader Mayavathi as “Yesterday's newspaper”. Amit Shah treated all opponents as “Kasabs” who was executed in terrorists attacks case. Mr. Modi's speech modulation and body language also projected his personality and influenced the voters. Prime Minister even participated in street shows to reach out to the people at the booth level. Above all, people say that Modi had a better hearing aid to listen to what we call grassroots voice that helped him to evolve his communication strategy.

As a result of his style of speaking and achievements, people praised Mr. Modi calling him honest, clean and “Garibon Ka Messiah”, a symbol of India and immediate cause of the elections that helped his party to win the elections.

Booth Level Samithies

Third, an effective grassroots communication strategy was designed almost in 2014 to reach out to the village voters through booth level samithies. These samithies were constituted at 1.4 Lakh election booths with BJP party workers and RSS pracharaks. In fact, RSS paid a pivotal role at the grass roots. This aspect of strategy was more forceful than the other two strategies. If the second strategy of propaganda was through mass media, public meetings and rallies, the third strategy was based on two step - flow of communication – Modi's message first reached booth level samithi members through mass media in the first step and in turn these members of booth level samithies reached every household in the village, town or city to carry the messages of Mr. Modi. House hold communication was yet another feature of the election campaign in which messages of MR Modi were humanized and personalised to influence the mindset of the voters.

Whither India

Dr C V Narsimha Reddi

India was ruled by foreigners for about 1000 years of which Muslims ruled for 600 years including the Mughals. A dichotomy surfaces in the recent election campaign of BJP that if “Sabka Saath – Sabka Vikas”, was the BJP's election campaign in 2014 while the winning BJP consciously excluded Muslims in the 2017 election fray. What message does that send? People ask what will be the future of our secular country? An issue to ponder over. (The author is Editor  of Public Relations Voice; Former Director Information and Public Relations Department, Govt of Andhra Pradesh. Email ID – drcvn@hotmail.com

Communication for Vote Farming

The recent Legislative Assembly election campaigns have seen a dramatic change in the communication, particularly political communication, is conducted. While PR Narendra Modi is credited for dramatically transforming or even disrupting the political communication, the opposition too had its own share of initiatives. PRapport initiates a debate among communication professionals to analyse and understand lessons from the new communication regime - what was right and what we wrong. We at PRCI did make a beginning during our 11th Global Communication Conclave with a discussion on Disruption – Political Communication with a Fireside Chat with BJP political strategist Ashwani Singla. Now  we take this forward.

By S.Narendra*

India has successfully completed another   cycle of   free and fair elections. The latest poll cycle witnessed several new features   in poll campaign   communication. According to a BJP leader in UP, the battle strategy aimed at winning   ‘booth by booth’ (there were 150000 poll booths).For this purpose the party deployed lakhs of  foot-soldiers for personally connecting with the voters. The foot-soldiers efforts   in the field were   coordinated through mobile phones and  social media.

In a first of its kind, BJP  gathered inputs from thousands of  voters for preparing its manifesto. Such crowd sourcing and deployment of foot-soldiers seems to have created a groundswell. The 3-D communication-that is, multi-screen projection of election BJP rallies, especially that of PM rallies, (first unveiled in 2012 Gujarat poll), was very much in play. At each such venue, a bank of plug-and -play facility was created for news channels to take their feed which went a long way in getting free airtime. Perhaps , relative absence of broadband  connectivity limited the scope for streaming  PM’s rallies  from one centre to others.

A notable aspect was the seamless mixing of traditional campaign mode with the state-of-the art technology by the two main contenders-BJP and SP. The  latter, as the ruling  party spent hundreds of crore of rupees from government funds for showcasing its performance (Kaam Bolta hai)  and its young chief minister. SP’s incumbency handicap  was also palpable. The Incumbency  burden  in this case meant  that the voters had  taken for granted  any  development initiatives  of  the outgoing  government. And, rerunning  its  such achievements in TV spots  and other media  without  unveiling  SP’s future agenda  failed to rally the voters.  The government communication  usually tends to throw  information at people without  packaging  such ‘achievement information’  into a political  message .    

The BJP on the other hand, enjoyed the advantage of  presenting  the  Union Government’s  several  on-going pro-people  programmes  which were not being  effectively  implemented by  SP state government . The Centre’s   dominant presence on  social media  like mygov.com site,  apps and social media  and  on TV and radio  could not be matched  by other parties., And, PM himself  adroitly put  himself  as the champion of the poor against the rich and took almost personal responsibility for lifting UP out of its under-development.

The opposition attack on demonitization seems to have backfired as the people perceived the step as a blow against  the rich and the corrupt. As the theatre of Ram Janmabhoomi movement and demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, one expected BJP to revive the emotional Ram temple issue. Surprisingly, the issue did not dominate the political discourse.

A sub-text to the political communication was the BJP’s clever weaving of   the social divide represented by Dalits, OBCs and Upper castes into its seat  distribution arrangement. Although BJP totally ignored giving any representation to Muslims (16% of the state population), and its opponents   attempted to paint BJP as anti-minorities, such factors did not significantly swing voters away from BJP. This is one mystery of this election campaign communication  that needs to be carefully studied.

An important point to note is that both conventional media and social media, howsoever intensively they are deployed, have their limitations. Such limitations can be overcome only when they are enjoined with IPC   or inter-personal communication for micro-messaging. In this case, the BJP’s massive numbers of foot-soldiers were empowered with messages using social media.

And, more importantly, they became the listening posts,   sending   feed- back to central strategists. At the helm was an untiring, towering   foot-soldier in the form of Narendra Modi. He was both the media and the message phenomenon. Opposition withered away.

PS: One of the first Communication needs assessment, CNA, studies commissioned by the Election Commission (designed and supervised by me), established that Voters were influenced more by IPC that is, when they discussed issues with friends and other known people. The latter tended to be information consumers of media and eager to be Jaankars. My recommendation to ECI was to reach out to such Jaankars who could relay messages to actual voters who may or may not access media. In traditional societies, IPC tends to be more effective. (*The author is a former Information adviser to PM and government spokesperson. He can be reached at sunarendra@gmail.com)

Are U Ready 4 Future?

•  YCC Conclave draws huge response
  

The 11^th PRCI/YCC   Global Conclave on March 5^th 2017 organised an exclusive one-day programme for the youth at NMKRV College Mangala Mantap, Bengaluru, with the theme :Are u ready for the future?

Nearly 300 students from different Media colleges in Bangalore, Mysore, Kerala, Kolkota, Pune participated.

National Award winning film director of Lucia and U turn fame Mr Pawan Kumar in his inaugural and key note speech urged the students to move away from routine activities and become creative.  

Mr Vinod Menon, International Trainer and speaker spoke about the preparedness expected from the students, Mr Mathew Hibberd, Professor of Media Management from Switzerland spoke about the oppurtunities available to students abroad and also cautioned them to be aware of the challenges.

Mr Kaushik Ghosh, Group CEO, Asianet News Network, spoke about the skill sets needed for students to take up careers in communication.

The Panel discussion had a mix of Industry leaders and academicians, who discussed in depth on bridging the gap between Industry and academics. Ms Lavanya, RJ, Radio Mirchi, Prof Madhavan, HOD – Media Studies, Jain University, Mr Yogesh Joshi, Chairman, World Communication Forum, Switzerland,Mr Ravi  Shankar from Aim High Consultancy, Mr Jayaprakash Rao, Youth activist. Mr

Ratul Ganguly a PR Professional from Kolkota, and Ms Shivani Mody, Editor-in – Chief,Chemical Today Magazine participated in the Panel discussion and drove home a lot of points which added value to the students. The programme also saw a creative story telling workshop delivered by Kathalaya.

The programme was organized by YCC Karnatak Head- Ms Maya Chandra and overseen by Ms Geetha Shankar, National Chairperson, YCC.

YCC acknowledges the immense efforts and support given by Mr Lokesh, Ms Divya Kumari- Bangalore Chapter Head, Mr Prashanth- Secretary, Bangalore Chapter, Ms Manasi,  and the scores of student volunteers who toiled thanklessly for days to make the Conclave a big success. 

Disruption Snapshots-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qf4ZWm0p00&t=11s

Please check this link for a view of the Awards presentation at the 11th Global Communication Conclave, Bengaluru - March 4, 2017

Disruption Snapshots-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1A2n5Wy3mI

Please check this link for select view of the Awards presentation at the 11th Global Communication Conclave.

God's Own Chapter!

PRCI Kerala unit was adjudged the best performing Chapter.  In these media clips, the chapter chairman, secretary and treasurer are seen receiving the award from PRCI Governing Council chairman RT Kumar , in the presence of PRCI founder chairman and chief mentor  MB Jayaram , secretary general  Ravindran Kesavan, PRCI southern regional chairman Dr KR Venugopal at the 11^th Global Communication Conclave held at Bengaluru on March 4, 2017.

President Pranab greets PRCI

Delhi YCC celebrates Eves' Day

The YCC Delhi Chapter, the youth wing of PRCI, has organised a declamation contest on the theme GENDER EQUALITY on the occasion of the International Women's Day.

More than 80 students from various B-Schools of Delhi attended the event.

Chairperson of Delhi Kala Karam (An NGO working for the cause of women and children ),Winner of Gujral Foundation Award for social work and former India No.2 in Badminton, Mrs.Satpal Jagjit Singh, was the Chief Guest.

Mrs.Moli Lal,Secretary,PRCI,Delhi chapter was present too.

The event was organised in collaboration with the IMM-Fostima Business School.

PRapport presents shapshots of the event.

Disruption - A certificate for PRCI, wow!

Disruption - What Next!

The conclave truly stood up to its name.

It creatively disrupted some part of my thought pattern to evoke many new ideas.
To have been a part of this experience was truly worth it.
Thank you for making me learn more- PRCI. I have begun wondering- how 'disruptive' the theme of your next conclave would be!

Cheers to the Team.

-Santosh B Raghunath
(Young HR Professional who was a panelist on Under 30 Vs  PR Veterans)

11th Conclave - A Rewarding Experience

• PR veteran BK Sahu is all praise for 11th Global Communication Conclave

Dear esteemed Ms./ Mr. Jayaram/ R. T. Kumar/ B. N. Kumar/ Geetha Shankar:

I left Bangalore with a rewarding experience. The 3 day International Conference impacted multi-dimensional audience remarkably. Some sessions of PRCI are magnificent. Some speakers are of high order. From the points of view of standardization, professionalization and updating of public relations principles and practice and from the standpoint of chartered responsibility of Public

Disruption & Startups: A panel discussion in progress at the Conclave

Relations Council/ Society/ Association some topics and some speakers need to be more focused in order to attract public relations practitioners and CEOs of their organisations for the higher membership drive and greater sponsorship venture and for more quantitative and qualitative participation from private and public sectors including central and state governments.

Our soul-searching objective assessment of the conference including the selection of speakers and topics is need of the hour looking into the vibrant survival and dynamic future of PRCI. We should be totally relevant to the present and the future.

The 3rd day YCC Conference is superb. Its theme, venue, speakers, infrastructure and management are excellent.

I am overwhelmed with the qualities of our leaders and pillars of strength of Governing Council and The National Executive.

Dear veterans, in this context we should remember the words of Sir Winston Churchill: 'The

Disruption & Mentoring: Under-30 Vs Veterans discussion

pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; but the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.'

Undoubtedly, the conference as a whole with its grand location, good hotel, sound theme, veteran speakers, excellent backdrop, useful magazines and booklets, efficient programme arrangement, attractive anchoring, delicious lunch, dinner and snacks, beautiful organising ability of award ceremony with committed announcement and ceaseless monitoring of the people at the helm of affairs and top-seeded coordination is exemplary.

 Above all, Chairman & Chief Mentor without seizing the chair on the stage is administering and controlling the throne admirably.

Dedication par excellence.

B K Sahu

Forgive me if I am irrelevant.
Our hats off to you all.



Regards,
B. K. Sahu