SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, April 21: Marking the National Public Relations Day on Thursday, Amity School of Communication of Amity University, Jharkhand in association with the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), Ranchi Chapter held a programme titled ‘Building Trust; Shaping Up the New World with Public Relations.’
Ankit Shukla, State Editor, Dainik Bhaskar, Manoj Kumar, Assistant General Manager, Steel Authority of India Limited, Ranchi along with Rashmi Verma, Senior Mass Communication Assistant Professor, Central University of Jharkhand were the guests of honour in the event.
Manoj Kumar and Prof. Rashmi Verma are also the vice-president and secretary of PRSI, Ranchi chapter.
Ankit Shukla, State Editor, Dainik Bhaskar on the occasion spoke on the changing dynamics of Public Relations and Journalism. He cited examples in the history of journalism when the word Public Relations or digitalisation didn’t exist.
“Positive journalism was earlier well reflected,” he quoted, adding that in today’s era, not much has changed. “Whenever content is changed, there are repercussions,” he said, focusing on Celebrity Public Relations. According to him, Content control is anarchy.
He further mentioned that Industry PR differs in innovation and damage control, but the content is not controlled. The base of journalism is Public Relations, he added.
Further, he highlighted developmental journalism. “PR is a powerful weapon. The main value of Public Relations is the same as journalism, be its flaws. Development journalism has played a pivotal role through Public Relations during the pandemic,” he quoted.
Manoj Kumar, Assistant General Manager, Steel Authority of India Limited, Ranchi started with how trust is put in Public Relations communication. “PR is now commercial. Wherever you are working is for organization, goal, and mission. PR is a firefighting job. The nature of Public Relations in public and private are different. Right from the beginning, your job should begin with PR. Advertising is progression. PR and sales are important parameters in business. But commercial bodies run after sales and marketing. The only organisation establishing Public Relations is TATA Steel. PR is a cost-efficient tool,” he said.
Rashmi Verma, Senior Assistant Professor of Mass Communication, Central University of Jharkhand spoke on the background of PR and presented the origin of PRSI and the relevance of National PR Day and its code of ethics. She stressed on why new world order is required. She talked about the various opportunities in Public Relations.
She further referred to examples from global pandemics where Public Relations played a vital role. She also focused on the Great Depression of the 1930s. She explained the term Public. Proactive and Reactive relationships were explained concerning crisis management. Contemporary PR was also discussed along with the challenges and opportunities of Public Relations. The Earned, Owned and Paid Media words were explained. “Trust needs time and is not a one-time activity,” said Prof Rashmi Verma.
Prof. (Dr.) Raman Kumar Jha, Vice-Chancellor, Amity University Jharkhand emphasized on the topic of the event focusing on key concepts of trust and truth. Citing the instance of the lion, the king of the forest, he suggested not to feel superior at any point in life. “It is necessary to have a relationship with yourself and spend at least 20 minutes with yourself every day,” he said.
Prof. (Dr.) Ajit Kumar Pandey, Director, Amity University Jharkhand said, “Trust cannot be built without being backed by truth. Journalism is something that you want to be published as PR. Newspapers have the potential to change public opinion.”
He referred to the example of the Russia-Ukraine war where the latter is giving a tough fight for the last 55 days because of Public Relations. He also stressed on having a relationship with self in sync with others.
Prabhakar Tripathi, Registrar, Amity University, Jharkhand said that every individual has a name, surname, and image. “The third name is because of the trust. You give value to your name by virtue of what you walk, talk and chalk,” he added. He also spoke about the power of the media.
