"PR is still in a nascent state." Well, when is it expected to mature? I've been hearing this for over 6 years now and given the rapid progress that the country is witnessing, one can be confident in pointing out the enormous contribution made by PR. Many PR practitioners still flay journalists, getting back the same from them. They belittle clients and the point of contact. Why does this repeatedly happen? I had the privilege of working with a veteran marketing wizard who once told me that,"you create what you think." I think, it holds true for PR as well. No, I don't think but it is indeed true. Indian PR practitioners try and target only one application, and that's invariably the media - print media, 99.9%. They (ideate, conceptualize) dissect client organization and it's departments for possible news stories getting 1-30 clips of print. Is it a one time effort? Do they broadly think of setting of a campaign. The answer is no. Most of the practitioners try and work out one month or one day PR solution - be it a launch or corporate results. There is absolutely no objective behind any exercises.

I think, practitioners of this trade will have to come out of the "media" coccoon and weave their networking strength to encompass "word of mouth" and new technology application. Consider the mobile phone, blogs, movies, matches,competitions etc. Can't PR play a role in reaching directly to the TA? As long as the practitioners depend solely on journalists, they'll continue to receive brickbats.