'Keep PR and journalism away from each other as they do not gel'

The panel comprised Dr Navneet Anand, Founder and Director, Grey Matters; Dr Sarvesh Tiwari, Founder and MD, PR Professionals Group; Prof Sanjay Ahirwal, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Apeejay Stya University and Kamal Narayan, CEO IHW Council & Co-founder Teamwork Communication Group. The session was moderated by Moderator: Shivani Sharma, COO, On Purpose.

PR and journalism have a symbiotic relationship, do you think that the relationship has changed in the last decade and what is the impact it has had on the industry? Narayan, who has been a journalist for eight years before stepping into the shoes of an entrepreneur, said, “As far as the relationship between journalism and PR professionals are concerned, for me, the relationship is still the same as it was 10, 20 years or several decades back. Because, see, ultimately when I was in journalism, we used to have a kind of dependency sometimes on PR professionals to help us access timely and accurate and verified information. Their role has always been the same, to facilitate access to right information and the same goes at this time also. The  mode and medium can change and also the speed can change. Today, we see that many brands tend to take the direct route to convey messages or talk to media, sometimes bypassing the important role of PR prof or the agencies or departments meant for that, at the same time that direct approach to media becomes a one-way communication. With A PR professional, it is a two-way communication because you always want to go back and try to get more on a certain aspect or verify a fact. So, having an educated, informed and pro-active professional in between has always been a need for effective communication and the same remains true in today's time as well.”

Sharing some nuggets of advice to young journalists and PR professionals who are entering the dynamic field of public relations and journalism, Ahirwal said, “I have been working for 30 years now – 25 years as a journalist and 5 years I have been teaching journalism. But I want to be a contrarian here. I want to request to kindly keep PR and journalism away from each other. They do not gel. Sadly, what is happening today is only PR, there is no journalism that is happening in any channels and all channels and papers have lost their credibility. I have to say that we have to rework how journalists think and how PR people think. It is the best time for PR, let me tell you. You do not have to spend any money. What channels are doing for news is PR for you. I would suggest that the PR industry try to keep journalism away from PR and journalism students to be journalists. They must learn. Because the examples we have right now in front of us is not journalism.”

Tiawri added, “First we need to understand whether PR could survive without journalism or not. And PR is one such profession that has been going on for decades. Lord Rama sent his PR person Lord Hanumana; stories of PR go back that far! You need to put your person in others' field also. PR was moving one alone and  in the middle, we received a propeller by the name of journalists. And I sternly believe that a profession never dies; journalism will never die.”

Dr Anand deliberated on how, in the last few years, a lot of journalists have moved towards corporate communications and public relations. He explained, “Sarvesh rightly said that journalism is not dead, the format has changed. So, what we are seeing today is a different form of journalism. After Twitter, there is Mann ki Baat and in between, what has happened over a period of time in the last few years the dynamics of journalism have changed. The construction and dissemination of news and the consumption of news have fundamentally changed. So, each one of us has become news makers. There was a time when we used to go out to search for stories but today what has happened is that there has been a proliferation of news makers. That is how the character of journalism has changed. And as far as the relationship between journalism and PR is concerned, I was on the other side of the table as a journalist for 12 years, I used to be equally snobbish when it came to the PR agencies. In hindsight, I thought it was foolish to say the least because the relationship between PR and journalism/ journalist is like Jai-Veeru – it is very symbiotic.”