Whither Indian Public Relations!
Do We Have a National Vision to Grow?!!
Dear Professional Colleagues
Public Relations professionals in the recent past have been discussing about the lack of writing skills. An incident was quoted wherein the new job seekers in a public relations agency were not able to write proper sentences without grammar mistake. A question also was raised as to how many persons in the PR industry can write a good press release? The issue raised may be an
isolated case but gives us a picture of the status of our profession. Therefore, a time has come to introspect the state-of-the-art public relations in our country. Here are my comments as Past National President, PRSI for your kind consideration.
Birth Place
If India is the birthplace of human speech according to Mark Twain, India is also the birthplace of public relations. Gautama Buddha who is regarded the Light of Asia is not only the public relations messiah but also the forerunner of today's global public relations. Mahatma Gandhi who is considered 'Man of the 20th Century' and the Tallest Communicator of the World laid a strong foundation for modern public relations as part of freedom struggle. General Elections, Five Year Plans, Mixed Economy, Nationalisation of Banks, Public Sector PR, New Industrial Policy 1991, Globalisation – all contributed to the growth of Indian PR.
What is the State-of-the-Art?
Public relations in India is now a ' Mixed Bag' containing highly qualified PR professionals second to none in the world on the one side and many non-professionals without any grounding and professional education on the other. The distinguishing trait of Indian PR is the 'Quantity of Personnel' rather than the 'Quality of the Profession'. To support this view a recent survey indicates that a large percentage of Indian PR practitioners are not involved in strategic management function. Most of the practitioners are primarily performing in the technician's role involving mainly mediated communication especially media relations, producing house journals and brochures. Only 40% PR personnel posses PR Qualification. Other pitfalls of the Indian PR include: lack of effective relationships with all stakeholders; lack of feedback information mechanism to know the pulse of the public; professional identity crisis with many nomenclatures for public relations. Therefore, the need of the hour is Professional Excellence.
Future of Indian PR
Several current public relations trend lines such as social forces (30 crore people below the poverty line and 30 crore middle class), empowerment of women, right to information act, globalisation, political PR, good governance; grassroots PR, social justice– all will have an impact on the future of PR in India. These are not only challenges but also opportunities for the growth of public relations profession. In fact, a bright future beckons Indian PR.
How do we meet these challenges? We need a Vision for Public Relations. Do we have such a national vision to promote professionalism in PR? Who will design this Vision? The Indian PR professional bodies must design this vision and implement in association with educational institutions, in house PR, PR firms, online PR discussion groups and also individual PR professionals. We suggest Vision - 2020 based on six growth engines for your comments and suggestions as to evolve a new strategy for PR.
1. PR Education, Research and Training (The more you invest in education, training and research, the better the future of PR)
2. Two-way Symmetric Public Relations Model (PR will never be respected unless it provides measurement of its value. We feel shy of submitting our work to the acid test of evaluation).
3. Integrated Public Relations Communication Strategy.
(CEO should assume the role of Chief Communications Officer to design corporate communication strategy based on PR staff function covering all departments to reach all categories of stakeholders).
4. Media Strategy: (ITM Theory of Gandhian Public Communication. (based on I-interpersonal media; T-traditional folk media M- mass media and M- Modern IT New Media.)
5. Golden Triangle Public Relations Model.
(Professionalism, PR Ethics and Spiritual Values). This would avoid scams and scandals thereby PR will gain credibility.
6. (Strong PR Professional Bodies with Permanent Offices and Permanent Professional Employees and elected body).
If PR has reached great heights in USA & UK, the entire credit goes to their respective PR professional bodies - PRSA in US and Chartered Institute of PR, London in UK. Presidents of these professional bodies are elected once in a year but the permanent CEO of PRSA and Director General, CIPR in UK with the permanent supporting staff organize professional enrichment programmes based on the strategy adopted by the elected bodies. PRSA brings out two journals – PR Strategist and PR Tactics while CIPR brings out one journal -the Profile. If we are aiming at professionalism, we must promote the six growth engines as adopted through a meaningful dialogue.
In fine, the PR professional bodies must make sincere efforts as to advance individual PR professionals with professional skills, (presentation skills, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills) who in turn will advance the PR profession.
with kind regards,
Public Relationsly Yours
Dr C V Narasimha Reddi
Editor, Public Relations Voice
Mobile: 09246548901
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