The Wall Street Journal comes down hard on the "rotten state of India's media"

Ajit Mohan, writing on the WSJ website, couldn't have been more critical of the Indian media. Both print and television journalism get it in the neck. Here's a sampler:

Fragments of news, a significant portion lazily strung together from press agency clippings, are what a careful newspaper reader can sift out between a series of full-page advertisements peddling products, and images of women (usually of non-Indian origin) in different states of undress (in their defense, savvy editors must be acutely aware now that many of their readers prefer to get their titillation from their English-language newspapers than from other sources.) If there is any original reporting at all, it is always a bit unclear if a government agency or a private company has sponsored the report, or whether it is just another unpaid favor that has been granted by the editor. 

Frighteningly, the situation is even worse on television channels. Most news channels just do not do reporting anymore. What counts for reporting is usually a small snippet of a roving ‘journalist’ talking to a few randomly chosen individuals on the streets of Delhi and Mumbai for their take on the big controversy of the day. This then segues to what has become the preferred format of all channels: a panel of six to eight ‘experts’, usually spokesmen of major political parties mixed with out-of-work politicians, newspaper and magazine editors, and the day’s representation from the roving celebrity class of lobbyist-PR agent-commentators (whose reason to be on the panel is never quite clear), ranting at each other while struggling to have their screeching voices heard above the incessant screaming of the anchor. All this while the viewer struggles to keep up with the multiple, disjointed layers of scrolling headlines perennially sliding on the screen below the screamers.

This is a severe indictment surely. It's time to do some soul-searching, perhaps. What do our journalists have to say?

Commitscion Faye D'Souza (Class of 2004), who's an assistant editor with ET Now in Mumbai, offers a lucid comment:

I see the author’s opinion as an extension of the angst felt by several of the upper middle class ‘Thinking Indians’ we meet at dinner parties. It’s true, news has been converted into easy-to-consume, quick-churn packets of "fast food", in some cases compromising investigation and thorough fact-checking in the process.

But it is also true that the very people at dinner parties who complain the loudest are also the consumers of this information. When was the last time any of them read a long-format journalism magazine like Tehelka that puts out well-researched analysis that often runs into several pages? Aren’t we all watching the television shows we claim to detest so vehemently?

When you watch a show you lend eyeballs, which translates to TRPs, and strong TRPs encourage channels to continue putting out these shows because you as a customer seem to want them.

News, today, is a business. Newspapers and channels need to pay salaries and cover overheads as well. I think we should ask ourselves why we watch what we watch. And would we pay good money to watch a toned down, mellow, balanced news show? (Remember here that none of the money you pay your cable or DTH operator reaches the producer of the content.)

Maybe a not-for-profit news organisation is the answer. It would give Indian consumers an opportunity to sample objective journalism and decide for themselves what they prefer.

But for the sake of argument, let’s use Doordarshan as an example of what happens to content when it does not face the pressure of the P&L [profit and loss] statement. Do you think the news on DD is wholesome journalism? I bet you are unable to answer that question because you haven’t watched news on DD lately?

 It really is a chicken and egg situation. Consumers watch and read what’s handed to them because they claim they do not have a choice; content producers continue to churn out the same quality because they believe that is what consumers want.

I also would like to point out that this blog has generalised the lack of conscience across the media. I beg to differ on the stand that we are all the same.

Another Commitscion, Ayushman Baruah (Class of 2008), who is the principal correspondent of InformationWeek in Bangalore, also weighs in:

I agree that Indian media, both print and electronic — especially electronic media — rely on "superficial journalism" and there is no in-depth reporting. There is certainly an absence of analysis.

Some of it is perhaps because even in journalism schools we are taught how to report and never to analyse. The analysis in print is limited to the edit columns and in news channels, if at all, is limited to a brief "editor's take". I have seen this difference even in business reporting between InformationWeek India and our US edition. While we report, they analyse.

But there is, as well, some ambiguity in my mind about the extent to which reporters should analyse, and most important, how much of that analysis is fit to print.

Do television and print journalists have differing views? Your feedback is welcome.

What it means to be an entertainment television production professional

AFREEN RAHMAN

Commits alumna AFREEN RAHMAN (Class of 2010), who is an assistant producer with Zoom in Mumbai, gives us some interesting insights into the entertainment television industry:

What was I thinking when I took this job?!

My parents were puzzled, friends laughed, and the best part was that even I was confused. Why did I want to be part of the entertainment media industry? Because I wanted to be in Bollywood? No, if you really want to know, I wanted to be Kareena Kapoor. Well, that’s my subconscious mind talking but I was always curious to know what lies behind this glitzy world called Bollywood.

While I was an avid reader of Filmfare and Stardust, it was Ramesh Sir and Sai Sir at Commits who made me read novels (Salman Rushdie… how can I ever forget him?) and then write reviews. I would run, hide, do everything to avoid what I thought of as a tedious task… but I would still somehow submit the article.

And now I am writing yet another.

WHAT IS ENTERTAINMENT?
Entertainment is a term that has been used and abused many a time in this industry. An industry where reality shows claim to be unscripted and soaps and serials have become entirely predictable. What is entertainment then? The dictionary would say “agreeable occupation for the mind”, but a senior producer of an entertainment channel would put it as “art meets science and creativity meets news”.

Well, working for a television channel dedicated to Bollywood did give me thrills initially but, as time went by, I realised it’s not easy to create the drama, to create the hype, and to make celebrities look larger than life, especially when it came to celebs who are completely different from the perceptions people have of them. Like chalk and cheese, if I may say so. Don’t believe me? Here’s choreographer Sandip Soparrkar on Katrina Kaif: “She is a cold fish — how can she be any man’s desire?” Meanwhile ad guru Prahlad Kakkar doesn’t even want to acknowledge the presence of Akshay Kumar on the Bollywood circuit. This is the reality off camera.

WATCH ZOOM'S RED-HOT COUNTDOWN HERE. THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY SHOWS AFREEN RAHMAN PRODUCES FOR ZOOM.

DAILY DRAMA
Being designated a producer might seem all fancy-shmancy but the daily real-life drama that I am part of at work makes for more absorbing entertainment than any soap or serial.

As for deadline pressures, we often hear people cribbing about meeting deadlines; well, I have learnt deliver before deadline. That is expected of us today.

A day in the life of a professional in my industry would ideally begin at 9:30 a.m.; mine begins at 11 a.m. Why? Let me just say it’s a time-management issue. You see, I need to work closely with my scriptwriter who racks her brains to write lines in Hindi (which is not my forte). But she needs constant briefing because she tends to get carried away and writes at great length, which ultimately needs heavy editing keeping the episode duration in mind! (There have been times when, while speaking to her on the phone, I have dozed off.)  Then there’s my forever-demanding editor who feels there is never enough footage to edit a link. So even if I leave office at 1 a.m., I am on call till 4 a.m.

The next day, even as I board the train and squeeze myself into a seat I am coordinating with the voiceover artist and my post-production head, AND updating my senior because she wakes up after a good night’s sleep and wants to know if her posterior is going to be on fire or not! To top it all, if the updates don’t go out on time, 8-1-1 (my extension) does not stop ringing. Any wonder why I sometimes feel like dialling 9-1-1?

RESEARCH IS A MUST
Television shows are mostly shoot-based or edit-based. Therefore research on your subject is a must, else audience and stars alike feel cheated and you end up like a popular newspaper supplement that showers rumours and unverified gossip on its readers daily. Zoom editor-in-chief Omar Qureshi, who is a veteran film journalist and ex-editor of Stardust, has a personal rapport with most of B-Town’s A-listers, but he would still face the heat if something that was concocted appeared on the channel. He knows, however, that if his background research is foolproof, nothing can deter him from stating the truth.

Now my research is all about news… Bollywood news! It helps to be updated and be ahead of time. In Bollywood we have a mix of everything — not just gossip and glamour — so entertainment reporting is not really that different from crime reporting or political reporting, which, by the way, makes headlines every day. Here you dig deeper because surely the life of every celebrity is worth talking about!

ARE WE SAVING LIVES?
I often hear people saying, “Be passionate about your work”, “Content is king”, “Be available round the clock”. And then I have friends saying (not asking, just saying), “Are you saving lives?” No, I don’t have any clear answers yet to such questions, but, yes, even if we are passionate about work and our content has given us TRPs (what every channel thrives on), the way I see it is that we are fighting with rivals and saving the channel’s reputation. Here is an incident that underlines my viewpoint:

I had recently produced an episode titled “Bindass Celebs of Bollywood”, a countdown show. One week after it first went on air, when the repeats were on during prime time on a Saturday, somebody somewhere tuned into Zoom and watched the episode. The following day, a Sunday, I received a call and I was asked to report to work by 10 a.m. for a meeting with the programming head, the CEO, and my senior producer. Whoa! I had a lunch plan! Which I cancelled and then crawled to work not knowing what had happened.

Programming team meetings are usually fun; we spend a lot of time sometimes discussing the quirks of some of our stars (we get many interesting details from our reporters). But that day the room had a different air. As I sat down mentally prepared to tune out, I was asked the first question: Why did I do an episode called “Bindass Celebs of Bollywood”? Well, this can’t be bad, I thought. As I sat up straight to reveal the inside story and cover myself in glory, the CEO pounced on me: How dare I use the word “Bindass”. I was taken aback. I had no idea what I had done wrong.

Until it struck me suddenly that UTV Bindass is our rival channel. Oh boy!

I won’t go into details of what followed, but I surely wanted to quit then and there. Just as this thought was crystallising in my mind, Monisha Singh, the programming head, broke the silence that was taking up precious Sunday time: “Entertainment in television is very different from movies. One has to be aware that along with creativity (read creating news) comes strategic planning. Budgets, business angle of the channel, changing tastes of the audience, relationship with the stars — it all adds up to create the channel’s offering.” I think all she could have said was “Be careful next time” instead of this long-winded elucidation. :-)

KEEPING THE TARGET AUDIENCE IN MIND
In our industry, along with the actors, different media houses have learned to co-exist. One cannot survive without the other and, hence, both try to maintain a balance in this need-based “relationship”. Even as one gathers information for the various shows, one must never forget that every minute of every show is important. Therefore, a fervent desire to tap the pulse of the channel’s target audience should be in the DNA of every individual who is part of the 24x7 media circuit. To be sensitive and be sensible while narrating a story is as important as tracking the competition closely and outdoing them in the very same race. This part of our job may not be written down in the appointment letter but that is what decides our growth in any media organisation.

Speaking of target audiences, here’s reality TV producer Priyanka Kochhar on show formats that work and show formats that don’t: “Beauty and the Geek might have been popular in America but the same show failed in India because it couldn’t cater to an audience that wants masala and gossip in reality shows. Bigg Boss, on the other hand, rakes in higher revenues than Big Brother because it stimulates the audience’s mind with some much-needed juice.”

Now you know why, when deciding the format or the flow of a production-based show, one has to be very clear whose addiction one is feeding. If the TG, or target group, is “15 to 24”, it’s not the metro youngsters that we are cashing in on. It’s those kids in Kanpur, Noida, Nagpur, and Lucknow who come into the picture. Would they prefer Shah Rukh over Shahid, or Hrithik over Ranbir…ohhh! It’s a never-ending debate. Simi Chandoke, editor-in-chief of Lifestyle and Society at Times Television Network justifies this stance: “It’s only your TG that matters; it’s better to be honest with your viewers and readers than with the celebrity you interview.”

So, as I come to the end of my day and this article, I would say that no matter how difficult it is to cope with the incessant demands made on your time, you have to realise that your life in entertainment television is very different from that of your friends in other sections of the television industry. I believe they have a life, while we, apparently, slave to make space for the living. Competition is tough, there is always someone waiting outside the door to take your chair and maybe do the same work even better. And the pay sucks at my level!

CHANGING LIVES
Then why do I still do what I do?

Because when I go off to sleep for the few hours I can manage to, I have a smile on my face, a smile which comes from knowing that the day was well-spent! Even if I am not saving lives, thousands of Bollywood lovers actually look forward to MY show. Even if I am not Kareena Kapoor, I am a celebrity in my own little world — no other job gives you that kind of status. In my own way, I am changing the lives of dreamy-eyed youngsters in this country and that is no small achievement and no small responsibility.

And, for the Parthian shot, here are a few things I have learnt from experience: If you want to enjoy what you do be different, wear a T-shirt to a formal meeting, chew gum (and people’s brains), laugh aloud and gossip in whispers, indulge in small talk, call in sick when the Oscars are on, sleep with your eyes wide open in meetings, and never ever cheat where work is concerned.

What it means to be a social media marketing professional

BANIAIKYNMAW SHANPRU

Commits alumna BANIAIKYNMAW LYDIA SHANPRU (Class of 2007) works with Mindshare, a subsidiary of Group M, in Bangalore. Here she tells us what social media, increasingly being used as a marketing tool, is all about:

“Social media” is a phrase that is bandied about quite frequently these days. But what exactly is social media? And why has it become an important marketing tool?

Social media is all about the five C’s: Communication, Community, Connection, Creation, Convergence.

What are the elements that are considered as social media?

Networks: For social and professional networking.

Blogs: Individuals write about their views and opinions on various personal, social, and marketing issues they face; posts are updated frequently.

Forums: Users post queries and responses about brands and products

Almost all brands concentrate on acquiring fans in the case of Facebook or followers on Twitter. Contests and contents are the main drivers for building a community.

In addition, brands also acquire fans and followers through paid media which comprises social advertising on Facebook and promoted tweets/brands on Twitter.

How are these platforms utilised?

A. The brand’s fans/followers can be kept informed about developments concerning the brand. This is done through status updates on the Facebook Fan Page, Twitter Channel, etc.

B. The brand engages with fans/followers when their queries/comments are replied to on a regular basis. If they post queries/comments about the brand, it is best to respond immediately to prevent negative comments about the brand and to avoid creating a bad impression about the brand.

C. Brand advocates, who speak positively about the brand to their peers, can be created.

Point to note: When speaking with its fans/followers, the brand should converse with them in a personal tone and avoid using difficult marketing terms as far as possible.

BANIAIKYNMAW IN HER CUBICLE AT MINDSHARE.

The rules of social media are Listen, Learn, and Leverage.

Listen: As a social media marketer one should be thorough with ORM (Online Relationship Management), that is, tracking and keeping up-to-date on the brand sentiments whether they are positive, neutral, or negative conversations.

Learn: Identify and analyse conversation trends for appropriate content response.

Leverage: Engage with the users by persuading them to participate in the brand conversation and in contests. You can also give them exclusive access to content to make them your brand advocates.

And finally, something to remember:

1. Just as we pay for our ads in print and on television, social media strategy doesn’t come free of cost.

2. Knowing how to post a status update on Facebook or how to tweet does not qualify one to be a social media specialist.

3. Most importantly, brands have to listen to their consumers and become their friends and not marketing advisors.

• UPDATE (July 25, 2013): Carrie Kerpen, the CEO of a social media agency, explains why she believes strongly that there are key areas within social media upon which you may build a career. Read the article she contributed to Forbes here: "Is Social Media a Career?"

What it takes to be a media planner

Commits alumnus SUMIT SONAL (Class of 2011) has been working as a media planner with OMD Worldwide in Bangalore since September 2010. Here he gives us an insight into media planning as a profession:

SUMIT SONAL

Life as a media planner is hectic — say goodbye to your 9-to-6 routine because it really doesn't exist — and you have to be very, very patient while working on huge media plans that sometimes exceed Rs.14 cr for just a single quarter.

Sometimes you will have to make amendments to a single plan at least four or five times (if you're lucky!) before it gets approved. Presentations for global and regional teams, in the case of international clients like Intel, will take up most of your time.

Media planning has changed with time. Today's client will ask questions on each rupee spent. More and more channels are being added to the list every day, and it is the same with publications and websites. You should be updated all the time; only then will you be able to create plans that will deliver the goods for your client. To do this, you will have to stay in constant touch with your vendors and also READ! Afaqs and Campaign India are two websites that give you a good insight into what’s happening in the industry and you must make it a point to visit them regularly.

BRAND VISIBILITY: Staying in touch with your vendors will keep you up to date on upcoming properties. For example, you must have seen the promos for Avatar on Star Movies and Star Plus. The network approached us to be the associate sponsor because by then Reliance had already been finalised as the main sponsor. Being associate sponsor or sponsor ensures maximum visibility for your brand, considering the brand will be present everywhere the property is being promoted: promo runs, out-of-home media, Facebook, and paid search ads.

Avatar, a premium property, is very expensive to buy. Associate sponsorship can cost you anywhere between Rs.50 lakh and Rs.60 lakh (how far the cost can be brought down depends completely on the buying team).

We took Avatar, and it was declared as one of our big, good buys of the year as the property delivered tremendously well for both English and Hindi audiences.

To conclude, you need to be very patient and value relationships with colleagues, vendors, in fact anyone you meet if you want to become a good media planner. The media is a close-knit industry, so be sure to leave the person you meet with the right image.

One last point: It’s not important to be good at maths; I never was. You can still do well in this business. Also, be computer-savvy because it really helps!

• If you’re serious about becoming a media planner, you should buy this book by Arpita Menon: Media Planning and Buying.

What it means to be a TV news producer-2

SHALINI SEN

Commits alumna SHALINI SEN (Class of 2007) is a senior assistant producer with ET Now in Mumbai. Here she talks about three major aspects of television news production: content management, time management, and people management.

There is a single word that can describe what a TV news show producer does: Everything! I realise that may sound scary, but the truth is if you are a producer, the show is your baby. If the end product looks and sounds good you'll feel like a proud mother. And if it does not, you're the one who will get all the flak for it.

As a producer, you need to deal with three major aspects: content management, time management, and people management.

The producer decides what news makes it on to the show and what doesn't. When you have 22 to 25 minutes to fill and a barrage of information coming your way, your news sense has to kick in and be able to filter out what can be done away with or pushed to a later slot. On a particularly news-heavy day, you will be trying to squeeze in as much information on the show as possible. And then there are days you will be scrambling for every tiny piece of news you get to fill up your show. Both extremes can be quite daunting. And while doing this you also have to handle your reporters out on the field. Dropping a story that a reporter worked hard for is not going to earn you any brownie points. So PR skills are a must if you don’t want to bruise anyone's ego.

ADRENALINE RUSH: One thing that a live news producer deals with every day is breaking news. It sends your perfectly planned show into a complete tizzy, but it's also a huge adrenaline rush. The whole production team has to work together like a well-oiled machine to handle it. From putting the news out on the ticker, getting your reporter ready to come on air, informing your anchor about the development, and how it changes your show – and putting it all on air within a matter of seconds, preferably before the other channels get it out. It requires calm nerves, above-par coordination skills, and a firm grip on the situation. Any anxiety you show will reflect on your anchor and make the whole channel seem unreliable. And we certainly cannot have that.

That said, in such a situation a few errors are bound to be made and the trick is to correct them as quickly as possible. There isn't always time to double-check every fact, every spelling boo-boo, and every grammatical error. But a keen and alert producer catches the error before the viewer does.

With pre-programmed shows, however, it is the exact opposite. The pace is different and the expectations are different as well. Since the show is not live, there is no sense of urgency involved. It involves a lot of planning and pre-production to get every single detail right and there is absolutely no room for errors.

So there are many hats a producer has to wear: scriptwriter, fact checker, copy editor and team leader.

READING MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE: The only way to be all of that is to read. Read, read, read, read! Newspapers, books, magazines, articles on the internet, pretty much anything you can get your hands on. It almost always leads to interesting conversations and subsequently interesting story ideas.

Every person joining the TV news industry aspires to be Barkha Dutt, covering wars and political upheavals and whatnot. While it's a great aspiration, it involves a tremendous amount of hard work. Don't be disillusioned when all you do in the beginning is log tapes and ingest footage. However mundane it may be, it all adds up to a significant learning curve. It builds your TV news sense and helps you think visually when you go on to write your stories.

It's not an easy job, but ask the editor-in-chief of any news channel and they will tell you: It is the desk and the producers that ultimately run the channel.

YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH NUMBERS

• Back in March 2008, Shalini Sen was preparing to head off to Mumbai to join UTV and she wrote then that she was just as scared as she was nine months previously when she joined Reuters in Bangalore. “But this time,” she wrote, “I know for a fact that the fear isn't of business journalism and number-crunching and finance jargon.” And then she wrote about how financial journalism is essentially no different from other forms of journalism:

I guess no one really joins the field of journalism with business news as their first choice. It's always crime or political or sports news that everyone wants to cover and I was no different. For a student of Literature, I was completely out of touch with Maths and accounting principles. But when I got the job at Reuters to cover financial news I knew the only way I could have fun at work was when I learnt to have fun with numbers. And if I could do it, I'm sure anyone can.
 
What I learnt was it isn't so much the numbers, but it is how you interpret them that matters. No number on its own has any meaning. It is always relative to other numbers. And a very handy website helped me understand financial jargon better. (The site is for equities news in the U.S. but most of it holds true for business anywhere in the world.)

And as in every other branch of journalism, staying abreast with everyday news is essential.
 
Financial journalism is essentially no different from other forms of journalism: the what, where, who, how, when, and why formula still applies. Facts and figures have to be checked and re-checked and like always the deadline is sacrosanct. If we can just get our heads around the fact that there are just a few more numbers involved, it really is not difficult at all.
 
Also, with so many business stories on television and in the newspapers every day, it has become quite easy to understand financial news. I guess all it takes is a little interest and a willing mind. 

ALSO READ:

• What it means to be a TV news producer-1

• What it takes to be a TV news reporter-1

• What it takes to be a TV news reporter-2

• What it means to be a sub at a TV news channel

• What it takes to be a TV news anchor

• Want to know how to have a successful internship at a TV news channel? Read this post.

What it means to be a copywriter at a radio station

Commits alumna RANJINI N. (Class of 2010) worked as a copywriter with Adverto Advertising before moving to Radio Mirchi in Bangalore, again as a copywriter. So what does a copywriter do at a radio station? Read on… 

PRINT TO AIR WAVES
When I switched jobs and moved from an advertising agency to a radio station, I was pretty excited about getting an opportunity to experiment with a new medium. Writing for print gave a kind of permanence to your creative — you can see it as long as it exists. Radio is all about frequency and immediacy — instant gratification when you listen to your creation on air the very next day is what it is all about.

At Radio Mirchi, I handle sales copywriting for our Bangalore and Mangalore stations. I found that the role of a copywriter at a radio station is pretty much the same as in a creative agency. The only difference being that here you will think of different ways of using the medium of radio, radio, and more of radio. Ideation for a brand, the communication based on its positioning, activities to plan on air and on ground, meeting clients, etc., are all part of the role. A great idea attracts clients — whether it originates from an agency or a radio station. So it really doesn’t matter where you belong as long as you come up with ideas that click.

RANJINI IN HER CUBICLE AT RADIO MIRCHI, BANGALORE.

WHEN 30 SECONDS AREN’T ENOUGH
The radio commercial or FCT (Free Commercial Time) is the most common advertising option for brands. In addition, clients increasingly ask for innovative ways of advertising. It may be in the form of clever brand placements within radio programmes or inventive methods of communication. An example I can think of from the visual medium would be strategic brand placements in movies or TV shows. Since the programming format varies from one radio station to another, a copywriter needs to be aware of both format and content to be able to offer customised solutions to clients.

Some potential clients do not appear to believe in the effectiveness of radio advertising. Some are unaware of any innovation apart from having the RJs mention the brand in their jock talk. In such cases, a copywriter’s creative, or concept, for brand communication has the power to change the client’s perception. We have managed to crack deals and convince clients who were either averse to radio as a medium or had no idea how to use the medium effectively. It must be mentioned here that copywriters not only write scripts for creative briefs handed to them by the sales team but also work closely with them for their sales pitches.

WHY THIS KOLAVERI, DI?
In a casual context, we do mix languages while speaking. Since radio communicates with the audience one-on-one, the language is conversational. Whether it’s advertising or programme content, the language used is always a mix of the local language and English: Kanglish, Hinglish, etc.

When you work for a local radio station, strong local connect is a huge plus. Proficiency in multiple languages helps abundantly. The copywriter benefits from a knowledge of local lingo, slang, and nuances. This helps particularly to give radio spots a local flavour when they are translated to the local language. And, more importantly, enables one to avoid any faux pas. There are examples of scripts that have been translated word for word (evidently with the help of Google Translator or some similar software) that give us a good laugh! It’s copywriters who are responsible for preventing such blunders.

When radio stations move to the Phase III auction of FM licences, smaller towns and cities will see the opening of FM radio stations. It will be even more crucial then to be aware of the culture, the city, and the sentiments of the audience for whom we write.

RANJINI WITH HER RADIO MIRCHI COLLEAGUES.

AD CAMPAIGNS: NATIONAL — LAUGH OR CRY;
LOCAL — WHERE TO BUY?
Airtel made the whole country sing “Har ek friend zaroori hota hai” and reminded you of your long-lost friend from school. A nationwide campaign such as this announces the positioning of the brand.
Now how do you reach that “zaroori friend”? With a radio commercial for “30 paise per minute plan” that’s available next door.

The point is, radio is seen as an excellent medium for tactical campaigns to create awareness for a brand and lead customers to the point of purchase. And that’s when, as a copywriter, your awareness of not only the overall brand positioning and communication tone but also of the city, a store launch, activities, etc., come into play.

DEADLINES ARE TO BE MET. PERIOD.
Deadlines are sacrosanct. Time is money and radio is one medium where you get to experience it every day. Unlike television advertisements, radio commercials can be produced quickly with fewer logistical issues. Some clients take last-minute decisions to include radio in their media plan. And that cascades down to the copywriter as a tight deadline to produce the commercials.

Different kinds of brands invest in advertising during festivals, special days, and other occasions. By the very nature of the tactical campaigns, there is absolutely no room for delays, compromise on deadlines, or on the quality of the creative. Radio is the place where you can enjoy writing for a range of categories: from selling noodles to jewellery to villas to marathon runs to denims to insurance policies to mobile phones to hotels!

So, when the rest of the world is celebrating festivals, holidaying, and generally relaxing, radio stations will be busy putting together entertaining programmes, producing creatives, and executing advertising plans for their clients.

All said and done, the excitement of writing something new, creating small stories makes every day lively and interesting.

• Also read: What it means to be a radio professional

• EXTERNAL READING: If you’ve ever dreamt about being a radio star, then why not make it happen? Learn how here: Start your own radio station.

What it takes to be a PR professional-1

ANKANA CHAKRABORTY

Commits alumna ANKANA CHAKRABORTY (Class of 2009) worked in public relations in Bangalore for two-and-a-half years with leading agencies Corporate Voice Shandwick and Text 100. Here she tells aspiring PR professionals how to make an impression and be a success. In short, she says, learn how to pitch to hitch the scribe.

Public relations as a profession can be both gratifying and downright frustrating. On the one hand, you experience the ecstasy of generating great coverage, while, on the other, you have a bunch of people who do not seem to appreciate it. What’s worse, they crib that the coverage does not include the CEO’s ability to juggle china while singing! At that point you scream in exasperation, “God, why me?”

It doesn't have to be that way. So here are my top tips to make your mark in PR:

KNOW THE PUBLICATIONS INSIDE OUT
Pretty soon you will realise that your life revolves around, and depends on how well you know, the print publications (yes, it is sad that most clients still insist on print). I am sure your morning will begin with “tracking the papers”. Make the most of this. Don’t just flip through the pages, don’t read only Bangalore Mirror. Make extensive notes. Study the columns and supplements that each newspaper or magazine publishes and the content they carry. You can then map that to your client’s requirements.

KNOW YOUR JOURNALIST
Equally important is tracking journalists. If you want to make a successful pitch, you first have to know what excites the journalist, what he or she is writing about. And no short-cuts, please. Any one article by the journalist cannot be the basis of your pitch. Follow the trends the journalist follows. Only then will you be able to make a pitch that the journalist cannot say no to.

KNOW YOUR INDUSTRY
Again we come back to the pitch. And to make it work you have to think of it as the piece without which the puzzle is incomplete. So we have taken care of the publication fit, the journalist fit, and now comes the industry perspective. No journalist is paid to write praises about your client. The pitch will work only if it has an angle that the journalist has not thought about yet. This is where knowing your industry comes in handy. You can have easy access to how the industry has evolved and what is happening right now that will shape it in the future. Figure out where your client can play a role in this and pitch that angle. What matters most to you may be totally irrelevant to a journalist. Remember that it’s what they — not you — think is important that matters in the end.

FOLLOW ETIQUETTE AND PROTOCOL
PR has been rated as the second-most stressful job in India. And there are valid reasons for that. The pressure can get to you easily and in your quest to get more coverage you tend to irritate the hell out of a journalist. Now don’t do that. How many of you have enlisted your phone number with the Do Not Disturb registry? Poor things, they can’t even do that.

So do not call journalists incessantly; do not flood their inbox with press releases. If journalists say they are not interested in a story, they mean it. Reaching out to them again and again will further annoy them and guarantee you’ll be ignored the next time.

What you can and must do is meet them in person. Then again don’t go just because your boss asked you to. Prepare well, make a list of what you want to talk to them about; a “what’s up” kind of preparation is not good enough. Do not get overtly friendly in your very first meeting; it is not natural. Go with an agenda, and don’t pretend that you did not, the journalist can see through that. Remember, it is okay to go with an agenda, just make the agenda solid.

Understand that you cannot control the end product. It is unethical for you to ask, to see, or to proof a copy of the story beforehand, or to dictate what the reporter can and can’t say. Doing so will backfire — trust me.

There is one more thing that irritates a journalist more than all that I just said, and that is bad language skills. No one expects you to write sonnets. But a simple, grammatically correct document can make the journalist’s life a lot simpler. And trust me they will remember you for writing good documents.

DRILL SOME SENSE INTO YOUR CLIENT’S HEAD
Yes, clients are a necessary evil. And most of the time they are more painful than nice. Set the clients’ expectations right. Do not promise the sun, stars, and moon and then fail miserably. Plan, plan, and plan. If plan A fails, you still have 25 possible versions left to salvage the situation.

Be very patient and consistent. Don’t lose hope. PR is a process. You know who hits it big overnight with a story flashing across publications? Criminals, bad politicians, naughty celebrities, terrorists, and natural calamity victims. Do you want to be one of them?

Ankana Sinha is now the brand manager for Pro Nature Organic Foods in Bangalore.

THIS PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION HAS BEEN DOING THE ROUNDS ON FACEBOOK.

ALSO READ:

• What it takes to be a PR professional-2
  

• What PR professionals should not do to journalists, and what journalists should not do to PR professionals

• Uncalled-for criticism of the PR community — and my rejoinder

• For PR professionals, life is a pitch

• 10 mistakes and the lessons learned from the PR world

What it means to be a corporate communications professional-2

Commits alumna SUSHMA SHANKAR (Class of 2008), who works with IBM in Bangalore, explains what really happens in corporate communications and what exactly she does as a corporate communications officer:

Nothing can bring disaster more rapidly to a business and to its people than a breakdown in communications and in understanding. — Thomas J Watson Sr, 1961

Almost every person to whom I have handed my business card has asked me: What do you do in IBM? I would love to proffer Wikipedia’s definition of what I do, but what you read on the internet or in text books is quite different from reality.

When I mention IBM to anybody outside the company, the first reaction I get is, “Oh, that is a nice company to work for.” Or, “I’ve heard the company has employee-friendly policies.” This has been a result of effective communications within the company and with its stakeholders. Years and years of effective brand-building have helped bring about a positive reaction and recall among people, as well as boost share value. This is what corporate communications strives to achieve.

So what is corporate communications? Simply put, it is communicating the company’s policies, ideas and strategy to its stakeholders — be it the company’s employees, customers, shareholders, or its business partners. In many large companies this function has multiple departments:

External Communications (communicating to customers and other businesses through PR and advertising, managing relationships with analysts, bloggers, shareholders, etc.).

Internal Communications or Employee Engagement (communicating to your employees, communications from the management to the employees, building employee and management relationship, and communicating to the sales force).

While Corporate Communications helps build the brand, the goal of Marketing Communications is to help meet sales figures.

SUSHMA SHANKAR (CENTRE) WITH HER COLLEAGUES AT IBM.

BUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENS IN CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS?

On a day-to-day basis in a large organisation, many types of important communications are sent out via different channels: mailers, intranet articles and posts, internal blogs, communities, company websites, etc. Important information is dispensed and relationships are built through these communications.

For example, crisis communication is an important part of Corporate Communications. To understand this better: If a company is facing a bleed in employee attrition or, in tough times, has to let go of employees, it takes a communications team to handle this type of crisis situation. Multiple messages and multiple channels are used to prevent panic and provide assurance that the company is in control of the situation.

This is just one example of a situation that Corporate Communications officers handle. With multiple stakeholders watching a company’s movements and its policies, communicators are the link among these stakeholders.

WHAT DO I DO AS A CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER?

I work on internal communications and seller communications at a regional level across the different lines of businesses. Each region consists of many countries, and some communications need to be created and deployed at a macro level. I work on communications campaigns for internal communications goals, such as communicating about the Code of Business Conduct and encouraging employees to comply with the code, or communications to mid-level managers on where to access important information that they need on a daily basis to handle employee issues.

A campaign consists of some or all of the following: e-mailers, intranet articles, presentations, printed collateral, etc. It is exciting to plan a campaign. It takes a lot of creativity, sense of humour, and awareness of the brand’s personality to create an effective campaign. A good example is of these posters that were created for the Smarter Planet campaign and have been used internally and externally.

SUSHMA WITH HER TEAM DURING THE IBM CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS.

Corporate Communications may not sound very exciting, but the challenges you face in this profession are at a human level. There is a lot of psychology involved in this profession. While it is easy to create a communication, ensuring that the message is effective enough to achieve a change in mindset or to break employee indifference is not easy. It takes creativity to send across a message that is attractive — it’s a lot like using advertising to attract the employee’s attention.

I hope I have given you a fair idea of what corporate communications involves and why it is important to an organisation. The best way to get an inside look into corporate communication is to get some internship experience in a retail organisation or an IT company for a few months. Practical experience helps bring to life what you have heard from many experts who have worked for many years in this profession.

• ALSO READ: What it means to be a corporate communications professional-1, by Sushma Shankar's senior at Commits, TERESA ASHA ALEXANDER, who works with Wipro in Bangalore.

What it means to be a TV news producer-1

KHUSHBOO JALAN

Commits alumna KHUSHBOO JALAN (Class of 2007), who has been with CNBC-TV18 in Mumbai for almost four-and-a-half years now, is the producer of the channel’s flagship show, India Business Hour. Here she outlines the news producers' responsibilities, from attending editorial meetings to “rolling” their shows:

News producers are part of the editorial team in a news channel and form the core of the news desk. Every channel defines a news producer’s role in different ways and a producer is also known by many different names in different channels.

A news producer is expected to have editorial knowledge that will facilitate crisp, factual content/output generation.

EDITORIAL MEETINGS
The daily edit meet is conducted in order to get an idea of what is expected from reporters, companies, political authorities, and other sources during the day and to decide what each news-wheel will contain. All members of the team, including the news editors, sit together and get a sense of stories likely to be worked on through the day, the events, announcements expected, etc. The producer then works on structuring the show, deciding what news is priority, and in what fashion the news has to be presented (“reads”, “links”, “packages”, etc.).

WRITING
News producers collect information from various sources (including news agencies and reporters) and write “reads”, or reports for the anchor to read. “Reads” are accompanied by visuals, graphics, VTWs*, etc. A news producer decides what visuals or graphics are best suited to accompany a read. Reads are also sent in by reporters and are subbed by news producers before being put on air.

TOPICS, GRAPHICS, VTWs
Graphics are created/subbed by producers to accompany reads, anchor links, packages, etc. The producers can either use set templates created by the graphics team or get special graphics made (by the online graphics team).

VISUALS
This role differs from news channel to news channel. News producers are expected to have working knowledge of video editing software (the most commonly used software is Avid). Video editors are available to do the major editing work but in some channels a producer does a considerable amount of video editing (bites, visuals, teases, headlines, etc.)

KHUSHBOO AT WORK AT CNBC-TV18.

SOUND BITES
Reporters who attend events or are on the field meeting company executives, government officials, or other sources, send the interviews/tic-tacs**/bites to the office as direct feeds from the OB (outdoor broadcast van) or uplinked from the OB or sent on tapes) and producers go through the feeds and identify the appropriate bites for their shows.

Reporters also send flashes (important pointers from the bites/speeches/press conferences/interviews) which go on air and which are helpful pointers for identifying the most important portions that should go on air. Producers have to be quick to make sure the bites are put out on air as soon as possible. A number of times bites are taken on air ‘live’ as they are coming into the system.

PACKAGES
Reporters file their news stories (packages) and then get them video-edited. Producers go through the scripts, which are generally cleared by the news editors and prepare the Astons (or supers) for bites and “Topics”, which accompany every VO, or voiceover, in a package. Topics are usually four or five words long and have to convey the essence of the story.

Producers also put in graphics in a package if necessary (usually if there are too many figures, charts, quotes, etc., or if there few supporting visuals for a story). After a reporter has completed editing a story, the producers check the packages for any visual/audio glitches and to ensure that the correct visuals/bites, etc., have been used and the package is ready to be taken on air.

ROLLING A SHOW
News producers also “roll” their respective shows. Rolling a show means that the producer sits inside the PCR, or production control room, and along with the crew (studio director, switcher, sound person, teleprompter operator, production team) ensures that the show is on air on time and news is put out in the correct order.

The producer has to constantly communicate with the anchors and the studio crew, informing them what needs to go on the show and directing them on what visuals/graphics, etc., have to be taken on air.

CNBC-TV18'S FLAGSHIP SHOW, OF WHICH KHUSHBOO IS A PRODUCER.

A producer has to be quick and ensure that reads/bites/packages are ready to go on air. The producer should be prepared to make changes to the show cue if a news item needs to be moved higher or lower depending on its importance.

News shows are generally rolled live and hence the producer has to be capable of handling “Breaking News” situations. The producer should be able to put out the news as and when it comes in, accompanied by supers, topics, visuals, or other elements. The producer has to also decide which guests would be appropriate to talk about the particular news item on air and with the help of the guest coordinators ensure that the guests are willing and ready to talk “live”.

The team sitting outside (assistant producers) provides support in terms of writing, cutting visuals/bites, creating graphics, ensuring reporters are ready on time for their live links, etc. Some shows are also pre-recorded and they have to be laid with graphics/VTWs/topics, etc., which is called “patching” a show. This is also done by the producer.

A CRUCIAL ROLE: One of the main duties of a producer is to manage time inside the PCR, i.e., ensure that breaks are taken on time and the show ends as per schedule. This includes ensuring that reporters stick to their allotted time limits. A producer also has to make sure that all the necessary news items are carried on the show and to ensure that the show still finishes on time. This includes accommodating "Breaking News" which is not accounted for when the show is timed before going on air. So we always leave a buffer time when we plan the show. Managing time is one of the most challenging aspects of rolling a show.

Broadly these are the functions of a news producer. From taking editorial calls to ensuring that the show looks good on air, a producer does it all.

*VTW stands for Voice To Words. There are two kinds of VTWs used at CNBC-TV18. TVTs or Translation VTWs are used for bites in languages other than English (we translate them into English and put it out in sentence case). Regular VTWs are used to show either highlights from a person's interview or additional information for packages/reads/tosses***, etc. These are in title case.

**Tic Tacs are basically mini interviews, Q&As, conducted by reporters on location. We either use sound bites by themselves, or, in the Tic Tac format, more than one bite with the reporter's questions. The reporter holds the mic and asks questions and then turns the mic to the interviewee for the answer. So, "Tic Tac".

***Reporters often do live "links". Pre-recorded reporter links, which go on air later, are referred to as "tosses".

ALSO READ:

• What it means to be a TV news producer-2

• What it takes to be a TV news reporter-1

• What it takes to be a TV news reporter-2

• What it means to be a sub at a TV news channel

• What it takes to be a TV news anchor

• Want to know how to have a successful internship at a TV news channel? Read this post.

What it means to be an event-management professional

DIVYA JAISING

Commits alumna DIVYA JAISING (Class of 2008) worked with leading event-management company George P. Johnson (GPJ) in Bangalore for two-and-a-half years before moving to the Brigade Group. Here she provides insights into the challenges of being an event-management professional. She also tells us what event management has taught her and continues to teach her:

e·vent

noun

1. a. something that takes place; an occurrence.

    b. A significant occurrence or happening.

    c. A social gathering or activity.

2. The final result; the outcome.

3. Sports; A contest or an item in a sports programme.

All of us, keeping this definition in mind, have at some point in our lives managed an “event”. A cousin’s birthday party, a friend’s bachelorette or bachelor party, a college festival, a close relative’s wedding, etc., etc. The only difference between managing one of these events and being an event management professional, really, is that you get paid if you are the latter. :-)

So if each of us has done it before, it can’t be rocket science, right? Not that it isn’t stressful, hectic, extremely frustrating at times (the want-to-tear-your-hair-out kind), but essentially it is managing a lot of elements to put together an event, keep the client stress-free, and get paid to do just that.

THE ENTIRE GPJ TEAM AT DIVYA JAISING'S FIRST EVENT FOR IBM AT AAMBY VALLEY.

  

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL EVENT AGENCY CONSIST OF?

From my experience of working with one of the more “corporatised” event agencies, a typical event agency has three essential teams that help to put an event together from start to finish.

• Client Servicing/Business Development
• Creative Department
• Production/Operations

Client Servicing/Business Development: The client-servicing department essentially plays the role of mediator between the client, the creative department, and the production/operations team. They usually bring in the briefs, either from existing clients or after pitching to new clients, and drive the entire event during the planning stage, getting necessary approvals from the client, and passing on changes wherever required

Note: Client servicing also serves as the punching bag for all departments AND the clients. :-)

Creative Department: This team includes graphic designers, copywriters, 3D artists, and the Creative Head. They usually ideate, put together themes for events, and work on the actual creative elements (things like backdrops, invitations, stage design, branding elements, e-mailers, etc.)

Note: The Creative department is usually cribbing about their creative work never being appreciated. :-)

Production/Operations Team:  Once the plans are finalised and creatives are set, the Production/Operations team takes over and executes the event. Which means getting the required vendors, negotiating rates, spending hours on set at the site, and ensuring everything is executed according to plan

Note: These guys are usually the owls of the office, working away at night, and are more often than not the tech geeks using terms only they can understand.

Some agencies are not as streamlined and usually the same people may perform more than one of the above functions.

ANOTHER IBM OFFSITE EVENT, THIS ONE IN GOA WITH A CARNIVAL THEME.

 

WHAT EVENT MANAGEMENT HAS TAUGHT ME

AND CONTINUES TO TEACH ME

1. PLANNING IS KEY: I have learnt that the first step to organising a successful event is good planning. Planning ensures you have covered all grounds. But and always, and I mean ALWAYS, have back-up plans (things don’t always go the way you want them to on events). Plan A, Plan B, and sometimes a Plan C and D will ensure that whatever surprises that might be sprung at the last minute are taken care of. The most essential part of planning, of course, is making those checklists. I’m now so used to making checklists that even in my personal life when I’m planning a trip or a get-together, the first thing I do is put down a checklist. :-)

2. MULTITASKING IS A MUST: When you have a list of a hundred things to do (literally) you have no choice but to multitask. Checking your e-mail while talking on the phone and giving directions, changing channels on television, and eating dinner all at the same time has now become a piece of cake (I’m perfecting the art really).

3. CRISIS MANAGEMENT SKILLS COME IN HANDY: One of the most valuable things I have learnt from event management is how to handle a crisis. Some things are just not in your control and in event management there is no second chance, just like in theatre. When plans A, B, C, or D don’t work and if something goes wrong, a solution needs to be found, however last-minute it is. That’s why it is so important to learn how to handle a crisis, why it is so crucial to understand the situation and look for solutions instead of panicking, which could lead to a nightmarish situation. In my opinion, in most cases the make or break of an event depends largely on the crisis management skills of the event manager.

4. PEOPLE MANAGEMENT SKILLS ARE ALSO NECESSARY: Sometimes in this field, I’m sure like in many other fields, you realise that more than managing the event (which might actually be the easy part), managing the people involved is really the tricky part. Different temperaments, many decision makers, different ideas, different styles of working — sometimes more energy is spent just trying to get the balance right and not rubbing anyone the wrong way. After a bit of practice, though, you get the hang of it :-) (I still have a long way to go on this front). It sure helps in the non-professional field as well.

5. ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS A BIG HELP: Before I got into events, I thought I had an eye for detail. It was only after being thrown into the big bad world of events that I realised just how much I still had to learn. It really is the smallest things sometimes that make the biggest difference. For example, a minute-by-minute flow of the event will actually show you the loopholes that a normal agenda for the event might not. 

Having worked with George P. Johnson, one of the more corporatised agencies, on events for one of the biggest brands in the world, IBM, for close to two-and-a-half years was one of the best learning experiences of my life. It continues to help me work better in my current job with the Brigade Group where I am working on a project that requires me to not only handle the communication, marketing, and events, but also assist in overall project management of India's first experiential music museum coming up in Bangalore. Incidentally the Brigade Group is celebrating its 25th year and I have been given charge of handling the overall celebrations which started in October and will continue till the end of this month.

Being an event management professional is definitely a challenge; it’s not for the faint-hearted. Working long hours, sometimes for days without sleep, can get quite stressful. But the satisfaction of having completed a successful event is a different high altogether. One thing’s for sure: you work on something different every day, as no two events are the same. It’s one hell of a roller-coaster ride, which you just have to enjoy.