Media should calm the nation amidst chaos and crisis, say Experts

PRCI Webinar on “Media’s Role in Calming the Nation Amidst Crisis”

Media has a greater responsibility and role to calm the nerves of the nation during any crisis situation, said the experts in a webinar organized by Chandigarh Chapter of Public Relations Council of India.

Nearly 160 participated from across the country in a session addressed by Chandigarh Chapter’s chairman, and motivational speaker Vivek Atray, former resident editor of Indian Express and columnist, Vipin Pubby, and student chair of the Young Communicators Club Shoolini University Purvi Bhushan.

Expressing concern about the prevailing negativity on all fronts and communicated through almost every type of media that is vitiating and impacting the human mind, Vivek Atray said that there was need to look into the content and consciously endeavour to spread the positivity through all types of communication.

There is a need to balance out the information and make it palatable so that it does not create panic among the people, he added.

Vipin Pubby said that majority of the mainline media is doing creditable job in checking and cross-checking their facts but definitely, the unbridled mushrooming social media are vying with each other to be the first with news often are throwing caution to the wind and misreporting or exagarating the facts that disturbs the mood of the nation.

Vipin Pubby also said that there is definitely a need to go back to our journalistic codes of ethics, and review how we are presenting the news both in our writings and visually, that are disturbing most of the time and are not permitted under our ethics.

Purvi Bhushan provided a youth perspective and agreed that so much of social media is being consumed but there is a need for a system and awareness to help youth understand what is fake and what is fact.

The unverified data, she said was causing much panic amongst the people, besides distributing information that could be useful.

The the webinar was the first in the series of nationwide webinars that PRCI is organizing along with internal talent-hunt competition, some of the noted communication experts and veteran PR professionals participated including K Ravindran, S Narendra, S D Reuben, G S Bawa, Vijay Lakshmi, Yogesh Joshi, BK Sahu, BK Ravi, Naresh Kumar.

PRCI’s Chief Mentor and Chairman Emeritus M B Jayaram, National President Dr T Vinaykumar, Senior National Vice President C J Singh, Zonal Head North Renuka Salwan, also addressed the webinar.

How Communication Can Help Create a Better World?

We have passed through diverse challenges during 2020 on personal, professional, and organisational fronts. 

And each one of us has done our bit to resolve the issues and emerge victorious on our own respective fronts and survived these challenges. 

Let us Discuss Tomorrow How Can We Create a Better World through Communication in 2021 with an expert panel of communication professionals in conversation with PR professional and National Vice President of PRCI, CJ Singh

SUBIR MOITRA has 25 years of experience in Reputation Management, Brand building, Public Relations, Corporate Communications and Crisis Communications.  He led corporate communications for KPMG, United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney and Sterlite Power in India. 

He has been conferred various awards for his role as a top communication professional including 2020 Exchange4Media’s (e4m) Top 100 Influential Gamechangers in PR & Communications industry in India; Pratt & Whitney’s coveted International Eagle Awards; and  Blackbelt in Communications Strategy, Gartner Communications and Bachelor of  Commerce

MANRAJ GREWAL SHARMA is the resident editor of The Indian Express. Author of a book on Punjab militancy called “Dreams after Darkness”, she has also worked as a consulting editor with development organisations such as United Nations Environment Programme and Asia Pacific Adaptation Forum. She has been a publishing consultant with the Asian Development Bank, Manila, as well, and was the managing editor of “Gender, Technology and Development” , an international peer-reviewed journal published by Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, for five years.  

VIVEK ATRAY, ex IAS, is a Motivational Speaker, Author, Mentor, Advisor, Columnist and Visiting Professor. Founder of SUVICHAR Think Tank, He is visiting Professor at Shoolini University, member of the CSR Advisory Board of ACTION AID. He is also a founder of the Vibrant Networking Forum, Chandigarh Literary Society and Co-Convenor of INTACH Chandigarh. He is a member of the Governor's Advisory Council for Chandigarh UT.

A weekly columnist Random Forays in Hindustan Times he is author of two novels Move on Bunny & Dubey ji Bounces Back. and has recently published his third book, Finding Success Within: 52 Life Skills for Young Indians. 

He is currently the Chairman of PRCI Chandigarh Chapter. 

The event would go Live on Facebook.   

Please join in.  Click here to log in:  http://bit.ly/PRCI30Dec2020

Please put your questions in the comment section during the Live session.

Vivek Atray to head Chandigarh Chapter of PRCI

PRCI to setup Young Communicators Club in the universities in the region: Vivek Atray

Chandigarh Chapter of Public Relations Council of India elected Mr Vivek Atray, former IAS officer, motivational speaker, and author, has been elected as Chairman for 2020-21. 

Vivek Atray who had been engaged with the Chapter of PRCI since 2010 said that there is a greater need for every organisation to deploy effective communication for its survival, growth, and success. 

With extensive senior resource persons available in the city, the Chapter would be not only organising professional training programmes for the corporate and public sector but would also be establishing Young Communicator Clubs (YCC) in various Universities to prepare the youth for the challenges of life. 

Others office bearers of the Chapter include Vice Chairman Prof Jayanth Pethkar from School of Communication Studies, PU; Secretary Sudeep Rawat, PR consultant; Joint Secretary Gurmeet Singh Khaira, PRO DIPR Punjab; Pavittar Singh, Director M&S, Press Information Bureau. 

Other members of the Executive include
Shikha Nehra, Jt Director DIPR Punjab Raj Bhavan;
Amit Roy CEO of iCatchers PR;
Aditya Sharma, CEO of Manthan PR;
Arun Johar, Joint Director (Retd), Deptt of PR, Govt of Haryana; 
Lalit Sharma, CEO Founder of Mantrin PR;
Ritu Nag, Director-Tech Mahindra SMART Academy for Healthcare;

Jatinder Vij, former PR head of HMT Ltd., Past Chairman of Chandigarh Chapter, shall be National Council representative and
Aneesh Bhanot, Editor of Sector News, and Past Chairman shall be the Zonal Representative of the Chapter. 

National Vice President of CJ Singh, and the North Zone Chairperson of PRCI Renuka Salwan shall be the Advisors to the Chapter.

Congratulations to Mr Ashish Goyal on Promotion

Our esteemed member, Mr Ashish Goyal who had been Director of Press Information Bureau at Chandigarh, has been promoted to hold more responsibility at New Delhi. 

He has been promoted as Additional Director General in the Bureau of Outreach and Communication in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India at New Delhi. 

We would miss him here but send our best wishes to him on his promotion. 

PR and Communication Challenges during Covid19

 

Dr. K K Rattu, Director of the School of Media Studies of Jaipur National Studies organised a webinar on "PR and Communication Challengs during Covid 19, today. 

Vice Chancellor of the Jaipur National University Dr H N Verma was the Chief Guest on the occasion, who commended PRCI and the PR professionals for devising communication strategies to meet the challenges of our times. 

President Emeritus and Mentor of PRCI, Mr MB Jayaram gave the opening remarks and touched upon diverse aspect of PR practice that can help organisations to plan for a better future. 

National Vice President of PRCI CJ Singh and PRCI North Zone Chair Renuka Salwan from Chandigarh participated in the webinar. 

What is Public Relations?

 

Public relations suffer from a deep perception crisis, and right from the academics to media, to corporate leadership, have diverse views on what this profession is all about. 

One can gauze the understanding of the chief PR person of a public sector organisation when he, sharing his "success" story, mentioned that the best PR lesson he learnt was to take care of his boss's dog, his wife and his kids and he never ever he had any problem in his career since then. 

This shocking revelation in front of an audience left the veterans speechless, while many others just wondered at such a disclosure.  Not his fault since in many public sectors and government organisations, earlier, provided a promotional avenue to their clerical staff to get into public relations whose primary job used to be running an errand or managing the reception. 

In the last four decades of my engagement with diverse fields of communication, right from being a journalist to public relations practitioner and visiting faculty to various educational institutes, it remains an enigma for many, including some of the corporate where PR does not go beyond 'Press Release' or media relations. 

There are numerous myths that surround the profession even today to a large extent, though senior communicators and businesses are taking serious note of the practice. 

Several professional bodies like the Public Relations Council of India, Association of Business Communicators, International Public Relations Association, and Indian PR Consultants Association, are making efforts to educate the management and introduce the professional practice. 

Young communicators opting for public relations often fall prey to the whims of the uninformed management leadership and are relegated to tasks far below their roles. 

In fact, the practice of public relations profession began with their role as firefighters in an hour of crisis but a young professional Ivy Lee put to rest the misbeliefs in the minds of the managements that PR is not to hide the truth but to be honest and truthful and proactive in sharing information with stakeholders. 

Public Relations is not: 

• Advertising
• Liaison
• Lobbying
• Propaganda 
• Ensuring publication of Press Releases in media
• Manipulating facts (spin-doctoring)
• White-washing/Hiding facts, especially during a crisis  (fire-fighting)
• Entertaining media people and keeping them in good humour

Public relations practitioner is a professional who is trained to manage communication effectively between an organisation and its stakeholders (or 'publics') to achieve desired results. 

Multi-Dimensional

A professionally trained communicator with knowledge of psychology, sociology, public administration, anthropology, linguistics, behavioural sciences, management principles, technology, data mining, business environment auditing, with a vision to judge the future impact of an organisation's existence,  can make people, corporate, public bodies, the governments, effect the change, what Mahatama Gandhi said, "you want to see in the world".  

The Changemakers

The young communicators entering the professions must feel proud of the fact that they are the changemakers who can bring about the desired change in the lives of the people, their perceptions, and their thought processes, just through sound communication techniques.

PR is all Pervasive

Organisations thrive through their stakeholders, which are diverse and different for every organisation.   Their study and communication consumption patterns defines the organisation's success story. How the stakeholders perceive a brand, an event, a person, depends upon the successful communication strategy. 

So the public relations practitioners should learn the fundamental nuances of communication tools, techniques and tactics, while the managements need to learn to harness the hitherto unutilised or underutilized Power of PR. 

How to model Startup for Success

 

Every time is the first time. And every new customer you meet, it is the first time that you would be making your presentation.

The key is to create your pitch to every prospect with the same spirit, hardwork, efforts, to establish your credibility.

Here is a sure-shot formula for success in your business, i.e. WxWx3Ws+H

a. The first W is the Why of your business. Mission of your organisation or your offering. Why are you in the business you are in. Be clear. Be specific. Till the time you take it beyond your own self, you won’t find the true mission of your work. This is the core, the entire spirit of your engagement, or in short, the purpose of your being.

Each one of us is Born to Serve others. Ask yourself, how does your product or service is making a difference in the life of others. What problems it is going to solve?

b. The second W is to be multiplied, because this is another crucial element to your success. Who? Who are the people whom you intend to serve. These are the people, your customers, for whom you have devised the product. Do you know all these ‘people’ who are going to make a success of your business? They are both internal and external.

Internally, they are your cofounders, collaborators, investors, board of directors, and the entire team members, down to your office boy and tea-wallah, sweeper, etc.

Externally, the ‘WHO’ form the largest chunk who are the reason for your existence. Your distributors, dealers, channel partners, logistics support, vendors, retailers, customers, and their families, the community,
the media, the government, financial institutions, etc.

Once you start drawing your list of ‘Who’, you will be surprised to know how you need to create strategy to reach out to all those people.

c. Theeafter we have 3Ws, i.e. What, When, and Where. They relate to your product/services, the team of experts, your USPs and technical advantages over competition, when can one get them (or the timing factor) and where.

d. The H, How, explains the process you are going to adopt to solve the people’s problems. In the online domain you would find thousands of replicas of various products, but only one amongst them excels and shines just because of the excellence in execution, which is the differentiator.

When you pitch to your client, your presentation should not be more than 6 to 7 slides, because no one has the patience and time to go through lengthy presentations.

Your passion and knowledge about your product and how it connects with the prospective customer, would not require longish explanations. Keep them Short and Sweet.

The first slide, Why would take care of your values and objectives, while your research on Who would matter the most.

Before the pitch, study your customer/prospect whom you are going to make the pitch.

Don’t keep it general.

Modify it to suit specific issues that your prospect is facing, which would require a little research about the organisation to whom you are approaching. Address their specific needs, and you have hit the nail.

Take care.