Committee to recommend accreditation norms for PR practitioners

Chennai: In an effort to professionalise the public relations (PR) sector, the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) has set up two committees — one main and one sub committee — to study the feasibility as well as the modalities of accrediting PR practitioners. The basic idea is to have two classes of PR practitioners — associate and fellow.

Speaking about the need for accreditation of PR professionals, PRCI chairman M B Jayaram says, "There have to be some minimum professional standards. In developed countries, a professional body accredits practitioners. We would like to have such a system here."

Adds K Srinivasan, chairman of Prime Point Foundation and chairman of the sub committee that would study and suggest the accreditation modalities, "The PR industry is on the verge of explosive growth in the country. And it is time to lay down some minimum professional standards and norms for self-regulation."

The other members of the expert sub committee are T N Ashok, advisor, Corporate Communications, Alsthom; Meena Vaidyanathan, director, Corporate Communications, Honeywell India; B K Sahu, chief, PR, Kolkata Port Trust; R Sudarshan, chief manager- PR & Marketing, ITI Ltd; R T Kumar, managing director, Oysters Advertising and Uma Bhushan, senior lecturer, K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

The sub committee will study the norms practiced in other countries and submit its report in two months.

Though accreditation is voluntary, Srinivasan expects it to become a norm in due course, as the market would prefer dealing with such professionals.

When asked about whether the committee had plans to have accreditation for PR agencies too, Jayaram says, "We may look at it as well. Overseas it is only the individuals who are accredited." Incidentally, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) accredits advertising agencies and not individual professionals.

According to Jayaram, PRCI would also discuss the idea of accreditation and is modalities with the other two PR associations in India, viz. The Public Relations Society of India and The Public Relations Consultants Association of India.