Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Public Relations: Truth and Beyond

Dichotomy of public relations profession is that it is still dogged by over 500 definitions. The communicators have still not been able to find one single definition for a profession which works for the organisations and seeks, at the very outset, their value proposition.
What is the value proposition for public relations? And who actually are the public relations practitioners? Spin doctors? Manipulators?
In the current information age where transparency, social responsibility, and integrity are again being looked into with seriousness, public relations practice is one such profession that can help organisations remain socially responsible, and responsive to its stakeholders.
When I informally discussed the topic of ethics and spirituality in public relations that Global Forum for Public Relations invited me to speak on at Mt Abu on 13th September, during the national roundtable on the Golden Triangle model evolved by Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi, the response was skeptical and lukewarm. Ethics and PR do not go together if you have to survive and keep your job intact, was one strong opinion.
Last year, at an international public relations forum, one of the practitioner openly admitted "we lie for our clients".
Yet, I have always differed on this issue having been a firm believer in the ethical practice of public relations.
"Public be damned" was the credo in late 19th century when propaganda, press agentry thrived and resorted to hyperbole. Early 20th century saw the emphasis on responsible Public Relations with recognition of the fact that every stakeholder (or 'public') is important, initiating "public be informed" period in the evolution of this profession.
All along, whatever name that may have been attributed to the practice of public relations, it remains for me "the art and science of managing communication"
If we trace the etymology of the term "communication" to its Latin origin, "communis", it meant establishing oneness.
Public Relations builds, and strengthens "relations" with various "publics" through effective communication.
If that be so, can anyone think of build a strong, meaningful, positive relationship based on untruth or dishonesty? Can you think of a relationship with your customers or vendors which is founded on dishonest or false communication? The entire practice of public relations, therefore, revolves around truth. Truth is not, and has never been, a substitute for public relations.
And as a strategic management function, public relations helps organisations, in turn, adopt ethical means of doing business and truthfully manage its operations. Truth, honesty, integrity, credibility are some of the key attributes of successful public relations practice...and these are the key elements of spirituality or ethical human behaviour.
Considering public relations anything but ethical is a misnomer. However, the key question comes here, that whether we are able to incorporate the ethical values into PR practice today? Largely no. Yet to truly professionalise the practise of public relations it is necessary that we integrate ethical and spiritual values in our conduct.
For any profession to be credible it requires two major core strengths, i.e. competence and character. Competence comes from professional knowledge and experience, and its constant upgradation and skill enhancements. Character is what our own personal values are. Is our character impeccable? Are we honest in our dealing with our clients? or with our organisation's stakeholders? Are we truly the conscience keepers for the organisations that we represent?
The Golden Triangle concept comes at the most appropriate time. And with the support of Global Forum for Public Relations, we do hope that PR fraternity shall rediscover the most significant spiritual aspect of their lives. Yes, we are talking about fortifying the ethical behaviour that comes through spiritual practice, of understanding one's purpose in life, and also the direct impact that our life's work and decision has on the lives of the people around us.


Copyright September 2009 C J Singh . CorePR . Chandigarh . India

The Golden Triangle: A New PR Model

With rising scams, white collar crimes, and the PR practice coming under cloud for its role in disseminating false or inaccurate information amongst the stakeholders, the question of ethics, though discussed extensively at various fora, somehow has remained at the backburner amongst PR practitioners (though not all).
The Global Forum for Public Relations organised the National Roundtable at Mt Abu on 13th September and various speakers analysed the situation and Editor of PR Voice, Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi, who evolved the PR model for excellence in its practice, the Golden Triangle, was unveiled.
Rajyogi BK Karuna ji opened the discussions with the need to create a great India which can be achieved only through infusing spiritualism into PR practice.
Dr. Reddi lamented the fact that in our country PR practice has yet to acquire a status of a profession because of the absence of proper syllabus, text books, accreditation, and regulating unethical practices.
Following ethics and spiritualism by PR practitioner alone can bring about the desired change, he said.
The new model, Golden Triangle, promotes integration of Professionalism, Ethics and Spiritualism into the PR practice,in order to take it to the next level of excellence.
This is definitely a big challenge for each one of us to meet, yet imbibing spiritualism in PR practice is not a difficult task since it requires a PR person to be considerate, affectionate, and genuinely concerned about the welfare of other beings, said BK Sarala Anand, Manager HRD and PR from BHEL, Hyderabad.
Prof. K.C.Mouli, faculty at MLCN University of Journalism, Bhopal highlighted the instances in the government where PR practitioners have to succumb to the pressure from their superiors, but only a professional can put the things in right perspective in case he is courageous enough and understands his ethics.
BK Binny gave new perspective to the discussions saying that PR has a synonym in 'pyar', the spiritual factor that makes the difference.
Prof Ananya Mehta from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune, commented that though ethical practice in reality may be at stake, the values are being reinforced amongst the students right in the classrooms at Symbiosis.
Rajyogi BK Sheilu said that spirituality gives strength to face ethical dilemmas but one can resolve them by having a more holistic and long-term view of the outcome than the short-term.
I too had the opportunity to share my views on this subject which is very dear to my heart, which I shall be sharing with you later in a separate post. Overall, the interaction did brought an entirely different perspective and was an eye-opener, said one of the participant from Pune.
CJ

Sunday, September 13, 2009

National Round Table on Public Relations

Global Forum for Public Relations is conducting a National Round Table on Public Relations at Mt Abu today at 3pm, to discuss the new PR Model - The Golden Triangle -evolved by Dr. C.V. Narasimha Rao, Editor, PR Voice, Hyderabad.
The panel to be chaired by Dr Reddi, includes Yogesh Joshi from Mumbai, Zubair, a PR consultant from Pune, Prof Ananya Mehta of Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication;Debabvani Mukherjee, Deputy Director,DNPI, Kolkata; and yours truly from Chandigarh.
BK Sarala, Zonal Coordinator, Media Wing Andhra Pradesh and Manager HRD/PR, BHEL, Hyderabad would be doing the summing up while Ms Mumtaz Fatima, Joint Director, Youth Services, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad would be proposing the vote of thanks.
Check out future details on live blogcast from Mr Srinivasan.
CJ
CorePR
from Mt Abu

Media Conference at Mt Abu

The National Media Conference organised by Global PR Forum and Media Wing of Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation and Prajapaita Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya at the International Headquarters at Mt Abu has seen numerous national and international speakers, professionals, academicians, and media personalities bringing to the fore the need for spirituality for achieving peace and development in the world.
The highlight of the conference has been the live webcasting on the prime point blog which has been well received by the internet community worldwide. The credit goes to Mr Srinivasan of Prime Point Foundation, who reached Mt Abu from Chennai to personally handle the blogcasts with the help of students of Symbiosis Institute.
On Sunday, the 13th, the Global Forum for Public Relations is conducting a roundtable to unveil the Golden Triangle model evolved by past president of PRSI and Editor of PR Voice, Dr. C.V. Narasimha Reddi.
Log on the the blog posts for regular updates, straight from Mt Abu.

Friday, August 21, 2009

3rd International PR Conference in Bangalore

Global Communication Association (GCA) in association with Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) is organizing its 3rd International Conference, this time in Bangalore, India on 26-27 November 2009 at Hotel Lalit Ashok, Bangalore.

The 2007 inaugural conference of the Global Communication Association at Shanghai & 2nd International Conference in Oman during the year 2008 was a great success.

Academicians, Policy Makers, Corporate Executives, Representatives from NGO’s and Research Scholars are invited to contribute papers on topics related to the theme “GLOBAL VILLAGE: Are we there yet?” or just participate as a delegate.

For more information on the event, you may visit www.globalcomassociation.com or www.prci.in or www.prciblr.in or mail to info@prci.in

Monday, August 17, 2009

Regional Seminar on TV News

Media Information and Communication Centre of India (MICCI) in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and CorePR, are organising a one day seminar on "TV News: Market Forces vs Social Responsibility" in Chandigarh on 21st August 2009.

This is an open forum in which the communication professionals, opinion leaders, and others are participating to brain storm on the growing commercialisation, and becoming entertainment oriented with 'news value' becoming more of a 'nuisance'.

Please respond back and email back to me for more details and participation in the debate.

CJ . CorePR

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Design is the Differentiator!



Any brand to survive the aging process must look at the design component and it is more true for the print media with its dwindling circulation (world wide, though it is a little different story in India). We have seen various newspapers experimenting with its mast and a little about the page layouts, but Hindustan Times has undergone a complete metamorphosis with its more smart-looking designing.
In a word of competing brands and mushrooming 'me-too' products, the design emerges as the clear differentiator that adds value to the money one spends.
HT has acknowledged the presence of competition and numerous other access points for a prospective reader to get information and news and entertainment, and has clearly won over the hearts of the youthful India with its make over.
The mast set in lower case in a strong Swiss expanded type font, it is Vonness, in fact, in double color, stands our strongly, and the famous Florida based designer Mario Garcia has done an excellent job in carrying the design elements across various other pull outs and add-ons.
The clever use of color to highlight select words in the headlines or other text adds zing to the entire process of going through the newspaper. These 'hooks' indeed provide an entirely new experience of scanning a newspaper for a reader who is spending less and less time with it...approximately 14 minutes on an average.
It is however would be interesting to closely watch its circulation stats as to how the youthful design is impacting the readership.

CJ

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

PR Next

Mr. Vikram Kharvi, PR blogger on indiaprforum.blogspot.com has started a new fortnightly for the communication professionals, PR Next. Check it out. Great addition to PR literature.
CJ, CorePR

Thursday, March 26, 2009

TV Key to Media Future

Here's an interesting insight into the emerging online video viewing trends vis-a-vis television viewing and how it is impacting the tv advertising market place. 
Our own Chandigarh lad, Mr. Manish Bhatia, who is currently the President of Advanced Digital Services for Nielsen in USA, discusses it with fellow professionals in a panel discussion. Read more on Media Daily News.

 

Friday, February 27, 2009

PR Lions - Jury President's Message

I am reproducing here the message of Lord Tim Bell, President of the Jury for PR Lions 2009 for the PR fraternity

"This is the first time the Cannes Lions Festival has acknowledged the existence of Public Relations as part of the communications and marketing mix and decided to award Lions for outstanding work in this field. It is long overdue and I’m flattered and privileged to be the first President of the jury.  
 
In 1961, before most of you were born, I joined CPV, the first British-owned international advertising agency and its sister Public Relations company, Voice and Vision. I guess I learned how advertising and Public Relations were allied trades at that time and yet PR was considered inferior to advertising. Today, nearly fifty years later, the client community and the industry have finally recognised that they are both essential parts of the marketing business.  Moreover, creativity and imagination, as well as skill, are vital to both.  
 
I hope the first PR Lions will be a success and inspire better work, and recognise that all communications can change the way we live and the way we think; down to the mundane things like what we buy, what we wear, what we enjoy and most of all, the way we regard things, people, companies, countries and of course brands. I hope the winners will be proud and well-celebrated. I’ll do my best and I’m sure the jury will as well. But most of all, I hope it is all a very happy event."

Tourism is more than a business or just an economic activity

What do you mean by tourism? I often wonder at the word ‘tourism’; perhaps the only business or vocation which has ‘ism’ prefixed to it....