PR discussions: Re: [prpoint] Debate: How many PR pros can write a good Press Release?

Dear all,

Dr Uma Bhushan has hit the nail on the head.

Yes, PR people think they are middle men and thats

why journalists scruplously avoid them and prefer to

talk to the company straight. So when i joined a french engineering firm as a communications head, the first thing i did was to

get rid of the PR agency and for that money , internally trained

three people for the job they were not doing, which they did better.

I would not like to generalise that PR people are wanting.There are very good

PR agencies -- but the general rut - big names no result. There are focused agencies,

those who came in early ( no names) are still good , though their charges are still higher than what they deliver.Obviously they have to have a profit line if they have swanky offices

in gurgaon , south mumbai/chennai/bangalore, lap tops and fancy phones and expensive cars for the staff. Half these VP's piff paff all the time-- no substance in their presentations.

Again I dont generalise, there are very good ones, who have now become CEOs.

Individual consultants do a better job at 1/3rd of the cost with lesser fancy gadgets. .

PR people of young genre woefully lack writing skills. They have glamour but not gramar.

Fortunately both my children ( past 20's going to graduate out of engineering colleges

are not like the modern day youngsters -- they are hard working, intellectual, write very well. one of them is blooming into a playwright. his pllay won the gold medal at an inter collegiate competition).their maturity is far beyond their age. I find atleast five of the 10 youngsters you meet these days are matured beyod imagination.

So if parents take care to throw a lot of books at their children despite their heavy schedules, keep them away from internet and TV for sometime if not all the time, they do read and learn. Also, dont turn your children to zombies like what the chinese expats do with their children -- driving them to swimming classes, music classes, maths tutitions, acting classes and expect them to study after all that.

The chinsese kids have enormous energy to cope with all this and beat the american kids in academics. but indian kids , i dont know, if they have the energy , but they do excel in academics.

Cheers.

Ashok

On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 1:39 AM, Dr Uma Bhushan <u_bhushan@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Srinivasan Sir and other friends in the forum,

This is indeed a very pertinent topic and I am glad so many senior people have similar views. Since I am in numerous selection panels for various MBA courses in Mumbai, I can one thing for sure: the poor writing skills is the direct result of poor reading habits. Most students simply dont read. In our earlier generations (maybe simply because we had not much of other media vying for our attention), we read a lot of newspapers and books. Now students have access to `cut & paste' facilities.

The other thing I observe is that students want a cushy life involving no hard work. Writing means hard work - to sit and concentrate, to be open to thinking, to rewriting. The younger generation wants all the comforts and conveniences of the older generation without understanding that the elders have earned them after years of hard work.

In my own interactions with PR agencies, I find to my surprise that writing is outsourced most of the time. Most young PR people think, PR means doing the `middle man's job between clients and media

Wriitng is a core skill for PR and like all skills, require practice. How many of us have the patience, perseverance, rigour and discipline to hone that skill is a moot question.

WIth best regards,

Uma Bhushan

Dr Uma Gopinath Bhushan
Reader, Business Communication Area
K J Somaiya Institute of Mangement Studies & Research
Vidyavihar, Mumbai 400 077
(M) 09821766781

--- On Sun, 5/23/10, Shivshankar Surkund <snsurkund@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Shivshankar Surkund <snsurkund@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: [prpoint] Debate: How many PR pros can write a good Press Release?
To: prpoint@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010, 7:16 AM

Hi there,

A very interesting topic has been raised - for discussion. I do not claim that my english is very good. I try my best to be use very simple english so that others can understand better.

During my over 2 decades of service at a Public sector Bank, I had learnt the lesson on the topic now under discussion. Since then on DD was only ruling the roost, I used to prepare a special version of the Press Release - very brief. Later, I found by providing the text in Marathi, the chances of the news being included in the bulletin were better. (it saved the trouble of translating the concerned person at the news desk).

Comming to attitudes of students, recently I had to check answer papers of students - in PR. A question that was asked was about 'Public service advertising' as a PR tool. To my great surprise 5-6 students had written the SAME answer, including the SAME examples - alphabetically that too most of them were from aborad - a straight lift from the 'site'. Not even on example which appeared locall media was reffered too. One of the local example given was 'Drink and drive'.

Remember, they were all graduates, some of them even holding BMM degree. They hardly read news paper, except reading topics and what is happening in Bollywood or IPL. A full page advt. appeared, irrespective of the topic, is not noticed. or even recalled.

well, after all, we (persons like me) are spent force and find it difficult to get adjusted to 'u' 'r', and '4'.

s.n.surkund

From: P B Raghavendra Rao <pbraghavendrarao@ yahoo.com>
To: prpoint@yahoogroups .com
Sent: Sat, May 22, 2010 9:11:04 PM
Subject: Re: [prpoint] Debate: How many PR pros can write a good Press Release?

Dear Sri Srinivasan

This type of poor language problem exists not only in English but in the regional languages also. While educational system has to be blamed for this sad state of affairs since of late they do not attach significance to the language but even the younger generation do not bother to learn a good language. I mean they could develop by reading books, journals, interacting in the forums etc., A person once taken up the assignment of PR he should necessarily have the least structure of the language to prepare press statements, drafting messages, preparing pamphlets about any particular aspect of his company to be enlightened to the public. PR and use of a good language go side by side. Many times a PR man has to explain the situation in a lucid language understandable to the common man in the society and at the same time it should be brief, to the point and with out losing the essence of the background of the message. Drafting in good language takes the matter to the longer heights and has an imprint in the hearts of the public

P.B.Raghavendra Rao

From: Prime Point Srinivasan <prpoint@gmail. com>
To: Prpoint Group <prpoint@yahoogroups .com>
Sent: Thu, 20 May, 2010 10:18:24 PM
Subject: [prpoint] Debate: How many PR pros can write a good Press Release?

dear friends

I got a call last evening from the Head of a PR Agency. He shared a very serious concern of the young professionals joining the industry.

One of the candidates who has completed Post Graduate in communication related subject wrote an entrance test to join his company. Though the candidate is a PG in Communication, the person could not write proper sentences. The expressions like "he had went", "They goes" were used. The Head of the PR Agency further told me that the new job seekers were not able to write proper sentences without grammar mistake. They seem to be using abbreviated usages like 'u', instead of 'you' in the formal communications, probably due to the influence of twitter and facebook.

This is mainly because, the candidates do not give adequate attention for learning proper basic English. Also the Colleges do not give enough assignments to improve their writing skills. I also personally feel that 'attitude for learning' is decreasing over the period of past few years. Probably, in the enthusiasm to chase the lucrative job, young professionals tend to ignore learning skills. I would go to the extent of saying that the PR professionals should be conversant both in English and the Regional language.

I can understand the lack of good writing skills among engineering and science graduates. But such phenomenon among our communication and PR professionals requires serious and immediate attention.

I used to always tell my students and young professionals to make use of the discussion forums and blogs to develop their writing skills.

How many persons in the PR industry can write a good Press Release? Though this type of fundamental question may look absurd, we should not feel shy of introspecting ourselves.

I invite your views.

Srinivasan

Moderator

91766 50273

--
TN Ashok
Consulting Editor,
Rice India,
Media Advisor,
All India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA)
81/2, Adchini, Sri Aurobindo Marg,
New Delhi 110 017, I N D I A.
Mobile - +91 98101 88700
Office - +91 11 4107 1555 /4107 2555/ 4107 0555Fx
Emails - ashoktnex@gmail.com, / airea@airtelmail.in

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