Sunday, May 13, 2007

PR Events

On 2-3 August 2007:
Marcus Evans, Malaysia is organising a seminar on corporate communication at Mumbai. (There is special discount for PRSI members). Further details can be obtained from Mr. VAvinesh Nadarajan, Phone: +603 27236600, avineshn@marcousevanskl.com.

13-15 December 2007:
29th All India PR Conference is being held in Chennai, India. Further information can be obtained from Mr. R.K.Dharan, PRSI Vice President South, rkdharan@yahoo.com

Sunday, May 6, 2007

PR at a cross-road!

Last week, while conducting a training programme for the senior officers of the PR department of a state Government, I came across some interesting queries as we discussed the subject of ethical practices in PR :

One, "what would you say since most of the news and the special sections for the state government's news that the media provides in their editorial columns is squarely dependent upon the government's advertising released to them? The state government has massive advertising budget running into crores that is dangled before the newspapers to receive 'positive' coverage. Isn't it 'news for money' policy?"

Two, "media relationship is a 'hate-hate' relationship. They abuse the government PR department and we also do not give a damn to them since we know that they would report what we want so long as the ads are released to them."

Three, "are the editors of the newspapers truly the journalists or the marketing men?" The last question cropped in contest with the recent cash prize of Rs.25,000 given to the editor of a vernacular daily by its management for bringing in more advertising revenue to the newspaper in the previous year.

Valid questions. Need to be mulled over.

CJ Singh
http://prsichd.blogspot.com/

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Punjab Govt to Engage Private PR Professionals

The Punjab Government would formulate a policy to provide recognition to the PR Companies and private PR  practitioners  to insure their involvement in ongoing government’s PR activities, under Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
 Mr. Jagjit Puri, Secretary, Information and Public Relations, Punjab disclosed this while presiding over a seminar on Achieving Excellence in PR through IT Intervention organized by Public Relations Society of India, (PRSI) Chandigarh Chapter.  
In his presidential address Mr. Puri advised PRSI to  compile a directory with details of PR Companies working in India and  abroad  to help the PR Department to  use their services for media management in in other states or abroad.
Talking about long emotional attachment with PR, Mr. Puri recollected his memoirs when he was a University student and started his carrier as an Assistant Public Relations Man in some Private Company. He said that today the Information technology had totally changed the face of the world, all the borders and barriers had been eliminated and flow of information became very easy through internet networking. Mr. Puri urged PR practitioners to continuously upgrade their technological skills for collective interface with the media to reach out to the grassroots level. Mr. Puri also underlined various PR challenges faced by the state government for effective flow of communication. 
Col Rajesh Dua, General Manager, IT, Punjab Infotech in his key note address touched upon 4 step PR Process of Research, Planning~ Communicating and Evaluating. He gave detailed account of current technologies and their applications for strategic information systems. He said that managing a local problem, partnership between general, IT and users management is crucial and e-governance is not about transporting processes, but transforming processes. 
 Earlier in her welcome address, Ms. Renuka B. Salwan, Chairperson of the Chandigarh Chapter said that technological changes have a significant impact on communication and PR professionals have to adopt it fully. PR is an information related discipline and information data banks help in PR planning and strategies. On the occasion, she also announced to annually organize Dilgir Memorial lecture every year on his birthday falling in August.
Mr Charanjit Singh, Managing Director, Core PR stated that for achieving professional excellence, it is imperative to be competitive, ethical and truthful. For effective and efficient  management of PR campaigns   PR practitioners should  learn to use the entire range of communication tools available with them whether traditional or the modern ones like webcasting, blogging, podcasting, etc.

PRSI Chandigarh Chapter honours Vivek Atray with Award of Excellence

Chandigarh Chapter of Public Relations Society of India (PRSI) has selected Mr. Vivek Atray for the PRSI Award of Excellence for his contribution to the Public Relations.
 
The award was presented at the seminar held on "Achieving Excellence in PR through IT intervention" as a part of National PR Day celebrations here today at the Chandigarh Press Club.

 

Mr. Atray had been instrumental in professionalising the public relations in the UT administration and has immensely contributed to enhancing the image of the city and promoting it as a tourism destination through extensive use of effective communication techniques.

 

CJ

Friday, April 20, 2007

April 21 is the National PR Day

Heartiest greetings to the PR fraternity on the National PR Day.
 
On 21st of April 1968, the PRSI organised the first All India Public Relations Conference in New Delhi, and adopted the Code of Athens (adopted by the International Public Relations Association as the code of ethics for the PR practitioners), for the PR practitioners in India.
 
All those who wish to read the Code of Ethics and the Global Protocol on Ethics in Public Relations, can download from the PRSI Chandigarh Chapter website. http://www.prsi.in/code_of_ethics.htm.
 
As we observe this year, let us remind ourselves, that this day, the 21st April, is the annual reminder to update ourselves and at least read and understand the code of ethics enumerated for the PR practitioners, and adopt them in our lives to practice it truthfully.
 
CJ
 

April 21 is the National PR Day

Heartiest greetings to the PR fraternity on the National PR Day.
 
On 21st of April 1968, the PRSI organised the first All India Public Relations Conference in New Delhi, and adopted the Code of Athens (adopted by the International Public Relations Association as the code of ethics for the PR practitioners), for the PR practitioners in India.
 
All those who wish to read the Code of Ethics and the Global Protocol on Ethics in Public Relations, can download from the PRSI Chandigarh Chapter website. http://www.prsi.in/code_of_ethics.htm.
 
As we observe this year, let us remind ourselves, that this day, the 21st April, is the annual reminder to update ourselves and at least read and understand the code of ethics enumerated for the PR practitioners, and adopt them in our lives to practice it truthfully.
 
CJ
 

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....