Centre for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication (CSJMC), Dibrugarh University, one of the finest media and communications institutions of North-East India, successfully organised a webinar on ‘PR in the new World: Northeast Indian Context’ on 29th April 2022, to understand the continuing shifts in Public Relations and the Communication landscape, especially North-East India.
The webinar witnessed the presence of an extraordinarily talented panel with experience in Public Relations as well as Journalism. The guest speakers included eminent personalities like Nurul Islam Laskar, Chairperson, PRCI, Guwahati Chapter, Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, Journalist and Analyst (formerly with IBN7), Rooplin Sharma, Branch Head, Perfect Relations (Guwahati), Swakkhyar Deka DIPRO (Darrang), Rajnish Jain, Founder, Crossword PR (New Delhi), Siddhartha Bhattacharyya Journalist, News Live (New Delhi Bureau). Along with the students of CSJMC, the event was also attended by students across universities such as Rajiv Gandhi University, Tezpur University, Assam University, Gauhati University, Cotton University, Royal Global University, Assam Don Bosco University, AIMT and Abdul Latif Chaudhary College.
Welcoming the audience during the webinar, Dr. Prabin Kumar Gogoi, Chairperson, CSJMC, Dibrugarh University said, “I am glad that we are able organise this webinar and am confident that our students and the audience will benefit immensely from the same.”
The webinar addressed the question of what the future of the PR practice looks like in the new age and in the Northeast Indian context.
Nurul Islam Laskar said, “PR in the North Eastern context is very different. Unlike other parts of the country, Northeast India has an astounding number of publications in total with Guwahati alone with more than 20 publications, in various languages. This is a challenge because of the kind of fragmentation the region brings but with proper streamlining, solutions are around.”
Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, a journalist (IBN7) said, “Understanding nuances of social media, artificial intelligence, in an extremely fast world- will be some expectations to be met by PR practitioners.” He also spoke about the dos and don’t of the PR practice.
Rajnish Jain, Founder of Crossword PR shared his views on the rise of North-East India and how the other parts of the country see it.
Siddhartha Bhattacharya said, “Journalism and Public Relations must always move forward parallelly and support one another’s body of practice.”
Swakkhyar Deka who has an avid experience of working with the grassroot audience, said that one of the biggest armours of government PR are the grassroot workers namely the ASHA, Anganwadi workers who have made possible the various positive changes amongst the people.
Rooplin Sharma said, “It is propaganda when one keeps selling a lie as a truth, continuously until one starts believing it to be the truth. But lies will be accepted only for so long before people figure the truth out. Public Relations and Propaganda are not the same.”
The webinar ended on a high note after a few exciting rounds of discussion with the panelists followed by an interaction with the audience.
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