Satyagraha to Storms in Parliament: Political Communication comes a long way

By S.Narendra

(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 18^th 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)

Next: Post Independence Period.

PRCI Kerala Secy has new role - Heads ARSCK, launches Kerala Club Times

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.

Expect the unexpected! PRCI Chandigarh Chapter holds interactive session with professionals

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!

From FDI ‘threat’ to Bhujia to ‘Pepsi Tomatoes’ in Parliament!

• Mule in a Turf Club-IV
• 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. 

(www.https//Spokesperson.blogspot) 

US overtakes India in PRapport! Welcome contributions

As pageviews of PRapport have crossed the 8,000 mark (8,055, to be exact), friends in the  US 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.

Keep viewing and keep writing.

Yours sincerely

BNK

Workshop on PR Client Expectations

Look out for expert advice at Candigarh

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

Games journalist friends play: How Rao Govt dealt with foreign & Indian media houses during reforms

By S.Narendra

(Former Information Adviser to PM, Principal Information Officer

and Government Spokesperson)

This series began with a summary of the hurdles to be crossed for initiating comprehensive public affairs campaign...The Steering committee, headed by the principal secretary, on paper was supposed to be an overarching body for overseeing reforms roll out but it also had to work through various departments and ministers that was a very slow process... Part Three of Mule in A Turf Club discusses India in Search of Image...Read on.

The Indian governments for several generations were desperate to ‘project’ India’s (read PMO’s) image abroad. From time to time, PR agencies had been hired abroad for the purpose and there were attempts to subsidize Indian media to bring out overseas editions for countering the negative image of India, allegedly projected abroad by foreign media. At one time, official negotiations were conducted with the  Times of India for a London  edition. PTI was also assisted to undertake such efforts. Even India Today was initially conceived as such a government supported private effort to counter the Time magazine. Fortunately for India Today, the negotiations conducted during the last months of the 1975-77 Emergency period, could not be completed. I was involved in those talks and in compiling a huge mailing list of recipients of this Indian version of the Time.

http://prapport.blogspot.in/2015/07/mule-in-turf-club-journey-from-license.html http://prapport.blogspot.in/2015/07/mule-in-turf-club-birth-and-death-of.html

India was a big political story to begin with, especially its experiment in democratic process and its gigantic and colourful elections with universal suffrage. But as its economic development sputtered out and India became dependent upon food aid and IMF bail outs, it began to attract attention as an economic basket case. ‘Ship to Mouth’ (import food and eat) was how Indian food and nutrition situation was depicted. The foreign media para-dropped  their representatives on to India to cover disasters like famine, floods, death of leaders like Nehru, Mrs Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi (particularly the assassination of the latter two). The separatist agitations in J&K, North-east and later in Punjab were always grist to the foreign media. India was not an ‘economic story’, unlike the south-east Asian ‘Tiger economies’ such as China, South Korea, Singapore and others.

Partly, India’s moralising tone in its foreign policy and closing of doors to economic globalisation were responsible for western media that dominated the international information flow, to take a negative view of India. This only made the government more desperate in its search for an ‘image’ that wanted to change the law of physics. When in early 1970s, the BBC broadcast a documentary on India by a French TV team (Louis Malle), that depicted the prevailing poverty and squalor, the government asked BBC to pack up from India. Mark Tully came as a young-man when BBC reopened its office in 1974 but had to pack up again during the emergency.

The foreign press corps, stationed in India was small and mostly staffed by stringers and they covered southeast Asia and its neighbours. This situation, however, changed overnight when Narasimha Rao government launched ‘Reforms’. This change also coincided with India breaking into the new Information technology (IT), with products of IITs and IIMs on their way to becoming international brand ambassadors. With India’s ‘Reforms’, there was a spurt in international media interest not for a political or disaster story but as a potential emerging economy. As a result, in addition to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore began to attract foreign media representation. We openly welcomed foreign media such as Bloomberg, CNN, AP-Dow Jones to open their news bureaus.  With the active intervention of the finance minister, the foreign press corps was given a government accommodation for its association and club.

Caged Tiger to Elephant:  Until 1991, only the foreign ministry was considered as foreign correspondents’  news  beat. This changed and media specialising in economic and financial news began to cover other ministries as well as the states. We regularly arranged, under the leadership of the cabinet and principal secretary, closed-door briefings for groups of foreign media representatives. As Spokesperson, I used to hold a daily briefing and Reuters, AP-Dow Jones and other such agencies began attending. Without much effort, India began to be featured positively on the cover of international magazines like The Economist, Business Week, Time and Newsweek. This was a far cry from the way the Economist depicted India in April 1991, barely two months before the Narasimha Rao era. In a special section, this edition pictured India as a “Caged Tiger’ and had put the Ambassador  car as the symbol of India’s technological prowess. Suddenly, the tiger had come out of the cage and tuned into an ‘unshackled elephant’. A large number of well-known names in international journalism began to pay increased attention to India. Among them was Thomas Friedman of New York Times, who was inspired to write his famous book ‘The World Is Flat’. India had travelled a very long distance from the time of the books of 1960s on India, (like that of Washington Post correspondent in Delhi. Selig Harrison’s India: Dangerous Decade, predicting its economic and political collapse.   

Most of the reporting in foreign media about India is reflective of what is reported in the domestic media. In 1990s, an Indian journalist was paid a large sum by Strait Times of Singapore for getting sending over telephone India Today cover story, particularly if it was negative one, for publication. When Surat was hit by Plague in 1993, the most sensational and factually incorrect stories appeared in Indian media. The foreign correspondents met me to complain that such stories were causing problems for them back their home countries. We arranged a meeting of senior editors of Indian media to draw their attention to the tendency to sensationalise the plague stories. Prominent foreign wire agencies based in India used to make it a point to check from me the veracity of government policy decisions such as cabinet decisions published in Indian media, before picking them up. This shows the importance of ensuring proactive, prompt and responsible flow of official information to the media.

Handling Visual media: In the wake of economic reforms, we had to mount special efforts to engage the Indian media.  We were arranging in-depth briefings by senior government officials for editors, media columnists and commentators on the government policies as well as problems in pushing further reforms. Both the cabinet and the principal secretaries were very active in such efforts. Such briefings were meant as background and not for immediate reporting attributing to the so-called official sources. The Indian TV media was   just making its presence felt. The visual media representatives wanted such briefings on camera which was simply not possible. While we made every attempt to include them for off-the–record background briefings, educating visual media reps about maintaining source anonymity and confidentiality was a serious problem.

In the visual media era, fielding an articulate voice and face gives authenticity to stories. As ministers and officials were new to this medium, we had a serious problem, especially because they would not be willing to be counselled in the art of facing the visual media. My own advice to the government was that where its decision needed political background and it deservedly had to earn political dividend, the concerned minister should face the camera. In other cases, where the focus had to be on a decision sans politics, relevant officials including myself should be fielded as the spokespersons. The need for providing sound-bites on a 24-hour basis for international broadcast channels had surfaced and I had been authorised to give most of the sound –bites.

New Media: The Internet news media had started off with rediff and a few others. I tried to give them government accreditation so that Internet news outlets had access to official news sources. This was strongly opposed by the print media. The latter were also not in favour of giving accreditation to TV media like Asian news International, NDTV, Aaj Tak and others. Internally, I pressed the government to liberalise the import of TV equipment, reduce the duties on such equipment. My argument to the finance ministry was that by liberalising the import regime for visual media equipment, India could develop into a media software center that would in turn create hundreds of jobs.

Several international news agencies, including the German news agency, were keen to set up their English language hubs in India and had applied for I&B ministry’s permission. My written advice in favour of such opening up of this sector was rejected. As a result, some of them moved to another English speaking country in Asia - Philippines.

Time and again:  There was keen competition among Indian  media houses to  gain a head start in publishing the Indian edition of foreign publications like the Time, International Herald Tribune, London Times, Financial Times. India Today, Ananda Bazaar Group, Hindustan Times had submitted proposals for government approval of their tie –ups with such publications. According to a 1956 cabinet resolution, foreign wire agencies were barred from distributing their service directly to subscribers in India. They had to route through the Indian agencies. A similar restriction applied to publication of foreign newspapers and journals. The government permission was required even for reproducing in Indian newspapers articles published in foreign newspapers, of course on payment in foreign exchange. Considerable pressure was put on the PM by powerful media houses to change the existing policy exclusively in their favour. The language media along with political parties like BJP, CPM were opposed to any change in the policy.  It was feared  in  media  and political circles that allowing foreign publications to come in would endanger the Indian media and also  alter  Indian culture. The prime minister was not in favour of opening up of media at that stage of reforms, as it would create a needless controversy and hamper critical reforms in other sectors. Rao was of the view that the government should develop a broad political consensus for changing the policy and develop guidelines on FDI in media before considering any individual cases.

Media Commission: During a discussion with the PM on such issues, I suggested to him that the government should set up an independent Media Commission, on the lines of the   Press Commissions that was formed earlier,  with the aim of examining  the issues involved in opening up media. He accepted the idea and asked me to submit a note to I&B minister. Accordingly, after discussing with the minister, I submitted a note on the setting up of such a Media Commission. This proposed Commission, consisting of eminent persons from   Media, Entertainment  and Advertising industry, Communication, media and  communications technologies,  social scientists, legal experts  and others, was  to be entrusted with a Review existing laws and rules governing media, emerging media and communications technologies and their implications for India,  prepare a vision document for  the development of media, entertainment, communication  and communication technologies , including  the new media. It was to lay out a roadmap for developing India’s what has now come to be known as a nation‘s soft power to complement its hard power. Unfortunately, the ministry did not pursue this idea.

The handful of media business houses that wanted to exclusively corner the market for foreign publications by bringing out their Indian editions were not averse to use their journalistic clout. Their game went something like this. The owners of a publication or a very senior journalist from the group  would have a one- on- one meeting with PM, and urge him to have their proposal for tie-up with a particular foreign publication group cleared. This would be followed by a very favourable story about the PM and the government. When I used   to bring this to Rao’s  notice ,he would  tell me with a smile: ‘last week so  and so met me from this paper. You wait for the next meeting of FIPB, they will print some libel against me’. When it became known that the next meeting of FIPB had not considered the proposal from this particular publication, there would be more than one negative story on PMO prominently displayed in the  group’s publications.

Jumbo junkets:  A media contingent used to accompany the Prime Minister on his foreign tours. When Narasimha Rao assumed office, the international economic and political order was changing and India had to readjust its external relations to this new situation. In addition, India itself was undergoing far reaching changes. On my suggestion it was decided to enlarge the media contingent accompanying the PM and we began to give representation to language media as well. The purpose was to expose more media persons, especially those critical of the reforms, to countries like Vietnam, China, former Soviet Union republics that were undergoing remarkable changes. We used to arrange special briefings for the media accompanying the PM by officials of host countries about their experience in reforms. During some visits the media contingent exceeded fifty persons. As we were keen to give more representation to language and non-Delhi based media, it reduced the representation of high profile, Delhi journalists. This did cause some flutter and problems for me.  

In 1990s, information flow from one region of India to another was slow and, therefore, people of one state could not compare the socio-economic development with even a neighbouring state. In order to facilitate cross–border flow of development information and comparisons, there was a practice of arranging visits of media persons of one region to another for facilitating  flow of  cross-border development experience. We tried to arrange visits of such media parties from states that were lagging in development and not hooked onto reforms to states that were not only more developed but early adopters of reforms like Karnataka, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu. Such visits made the media raise questions about the state of affairs in their home states in comparison. This caused some disquiet in states like West Bengal, North eastern states that began to discourage such visits. With the advent of satellite TV and media proliferations now, information flows freely and instantly and there is no  need for such officially sponsored  tours. Moreover, media houses like India Today have begun to publish ‘State of States’, comparing the socio-economic performance of various States

The Author

       (sunarendra@gmail.com) 

www.https//Spokesperson.blogspot

One of the purposes of economic reforms was to make India an attractive destination for FDI. The government had to show that it was not engaged in business as usual and therefore, it set up the Foreign Investment Proposal Board under the principal secretary to PM to serve as a single window. As mentioned before, FDI as an idea was somewhat foreign to Indian minds and was viewed with suspicion both by the business community as well as in political circles. The media reflected such suspicions. I had highlighted to FIPB one of prevailing concerns among the media and the public related to possible loss of Indian ownership to FDI as well as drain on foreign reserves. This was a hangover from the past history of foreign exchange shortages and import-substitution policy induced mindset. Initially, FIPB had to deal with a trickle but the future flow of FDI proposals would largely depend upon how this trickle was treated by government and also how the media projected FIPB action to Indian audiences. We had a special meeting with the principal secretary for discussing the release of information to media about FIPB deliberations of such proposals. It was decided that every proposal will be scrutinised from the point of how to play it for Indian audience before being finally put through FIPB. For example, for assuring that FDI will not eat into foreign reserves, we coined the term ‘dividend balancing’. That meant the firm investing will earn more than what it could remit abroad as dividend. We also repeatedly had to explain to media that FDI was not like hot money coming through FII and the assets created from FDI will remain within our borders. The PM himself had to reiterate this point even at political rallies.

This may sound elementary now but not in 1990s, especially to language and regional media immersed in political news.