GUWAHATI, Aug 28 - A talk, �Public Relations & the Common Man,� was held here on Saturday. The event was third in the series of PR talks organised by Tangent PR in collaboration with Young Indians (Yi), the youth wing of CII.
Hamad Berlashker, managing partner of Tangent PR, in his introductory remarks, stressed the importance of public relations as an effective tool to enlighten the masses and communicate about government policies. He said the corporate sector can use PR to convey their products� superiority to the people.
�But does a common man understand how public relation strategies affect him? Is he oblivious to the propaganda tool?� Berlashker wondered.
Enaxi Baruah, bureau chief, PTI Guwahati, said the ultimate goal of both PR practitioners and mediapersons is to reach out to the people and that only their agendas might be different.
�A PR person�s goal is limited, while the media targets are more encompassing. Nevertheless, both PR practitioners and mediapersons need to interact with one another on a regular basis,� she added.
Roopak Goswami, Assistant Editor, The Telegraph, shared his over two decades� experience with the corporate sector and expressed the opinion that the CEOs of companies and PSUs in the North East have not been able to make the best use of PR. He felt that interactions like the �PR Talk�, could go a long way in bringing about a perceptible change in the scenario.
Chairperson of Yi Mehtaj Zaman Ahmed spoke on the public relations issues of small and medium business entrepreneurs.
MS Mazumdar, regional vice-president; Madhuchanda Adhikari, chairperson and Jumita Saikia Phukan, secretary, Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), Guwahati Chapter, dealt with the various concerns and issues of PR practitioners in communicating with the common man.
Among others who participated in the talk were Bikash Singh, Tinat Atifa Masood, Urmila Baruah, Anjuli Chittaranjan, Nurul Laskar, Rajen Rajkhowa and Sanjeev Prasad. Students of Gauhati University, Cotton College, Tezpur University and Assam University-Silchar also took part in the talk.
