PTI Veteran V K Naik Is No More

My ex-UNI colleague and PR veteran B N Kumar tells me that our PTI Mumbai colleague V K Naik is no more. Although I knew him, I did not have occasion to work with him. I only remember his mischievous grin reserved probably only for his UNI ‘rivals.’

Here is a tribute from Harish Joshi, his colleague  in Pune PTI:

I went down the proverbial memory lane when someone told me yesterday that VKN is no more. It is tough to accept the inevitable as my last links with PTI, Bombay nay Mumbai, keep snapping. For us juniors, Vasantrao was not just the namesake of the one of the Chief Ministers he covered extensively, but also a walking Mantralaya as his deep rooted bureaucratic contacts were all too known.

He belonged to that generation of PTI reporters who rose from the ranks, starting as a technician, if I am correct, in Madgaon office. After landing  in Mumbai,  VKN became reporter in the office completely dominated by Keralites, Tamilians, and Catholics, with sheer dent of hard work and his great command over short hand, the greatest asset in those days to claim the journalistic grade in PTI.

Naiksaheb as our Chief Reporter S Ramkrishnan (SRK) used to call him, had scant regard for ceiling on wordage of the copy he wrote feverishly on a typewriter, thanks to those mysterious short hand lines. The other stalwart who was armed with short hand was and S. Laxman.

Whenever a big political story broke, VKN used phone N.D.Prabhu (NDP), News Editor, to move the alert and magnitude of the story was judged by the corresponding movements of NDP in office as sometimes he personally used to rush to the teleprinter operator to hand over the copy.

After filing initial reports on the phone, VKN would march in and get glued to those faithful "Underwoods" or "Remingtons", hammering them with a vengeance absorbing the short hand. Projection of news point in the lead, of course, was the editor on duty's responsibility. VKN never bothered on that count. What he produced on paper was facts, and nothing but facts, as he heard and saw them and many times in that sequence.

"You should always give a positive lead," he used to tell me. We were juniors and expected to be all ears to the seniors when their pearls of wisdom gushed out. VKN excelled as Mantralaya correspondent and remained a PTI heavyweight for a long time.

The company bosses would approach him whenever the state government was involved in getting something done for PTI. Naiksaheb would then turn out in a "safari" befitting a minister and lead our GM to Mantralaya. He was duly rewarded for his long dedicated service when he became Regional Manager (West) before his retirement.

An ever enthusiastic senior colleague, jovial, mischievous but well meaning.

May god bless his soul.

--

Call for Papers to Media Messenger

Following from Prof Rekha Shelke:

Call for Papers                  Volume-1 Issue-2

Paper Submission Last Date is May 23^rd , 2016

Dear Researchers / Professors / Scholars/ Students 

          MGM College of Journalism & Mass Communication (Aurangabad, Maharashtra) is a oldest college in Marathwada region stepping towards research field with its own research journal. Media Messenger Bilingual Research Journal (MMBRJ - ISSN: 2455-2046) is an Academic journal in the field of Mass Communication and Journalism. This national level research journal is peer reviewed journal with a key objective to provide the platform for different researchers, professors, media personalities and students to showcase their research. We have successfully published our first issue and moving towards second issue.   

Important Dates:

Last Date of Abstract Submission               : May 7^th, 2016

Communication Details:

Website      : www.mgmjournalism.org

E mail                     : info.mmbrj@gmail.com (Submit Your paper on this email id)

Contact No  : 0240-6454162/ 2480490

Frequency:

2 Issue per year (Half yearly) 

Processing Fees:

One Author           – Rs.1000 +Bank Charges

Two Authors         – Rs.1400 + Bank Charges

All payments must be made by Account Pay/RTGS/NEFT/Cash Deposit

Theme of Journal: “MEDIA- SOCIETY & CULTURE”

Media, society and culture is a significant phenomenon which is linked together and it requires inter disciplinary approach. Media is an essential social institution and it has also been described as an engine of social change. The metamorphosis of media in sociological view point is a soul of communication sociology. All aspects about media's social responsibility, relation with society and culture can be discussed on this platform.

Sub- Themes

1.     Media & Social Change

2.     Media & Democracy

3.     Media in the age of globalization

4.     Media & Political Culture

5.     Media & Women Empowerment

6.     Media & Scientific Temper

7.     Media & Spiritual awakening

8.     Media & Entrepreneurship

9.     Media & Eradication of Superstition

10.               Media & Development

11.               Media & Political Economy

12.               Media & Ideology

13.               Media & Religion

14.               Media & Yoga

15.               Media & Caste system

16.               Media & metaphysics

17.               Media & Cultural life

18.              Media & e-commerce

 A.              INSTRUCTION FOR PREPARING THE MANUSCRIPT

          Media messenger Bilingual Research Journal publishes research papers and case studies containing original research work of good standard with contemporary relevance from all over the nation. Following types of contributions are considered for publication:

RESEARCH PAPERS (Full Length – Maximum of 8 pages-A/4 size).

LANGUAGE English, Hindi & Marathi 

Author can send manuscript as an attachment in MS word (.doc or .docx) and PDF file

I.            AUTHOR GUIDELINES:

Authors willing to submit their manuscript are requested to carefully go through the guidelines as given below.

1.       The papers submitted without following this style and format will not undergo review process and will not be published.

2.       A research paper containing original unpublished work can be submitted to the Chief Editor at any time of the year. The Journal will be published half yearly in the month of January & July. Submitted paper will be checked for Plagiarism and then will be referred to Peer Review Team. In case of any query other than submissions please send email on info.mmbrj@gmail.com.

3.       All portions of the manuscript must be typed in Times New Roman for English, Kruti Dev 010 or APS DV Prakash for Hindi and Marathi with 1.5 spaced and all pages numbered starting from the title page.

4.       The Title should be a brief phrase describing the contents of the paper with capital letters.(Font size 12)

5.       The Abstract should be informative and completely self-explanatory, briefly present the topic, state the scope of the experiments, indicate significant data, and point out major findings and conclusions. ((Font size 10 & 1.5 spacing)

6.       Following the abstract, about 3 to 6 Keywords that will provide indexing should be listed. (Font size 10)

7.       The Introduction should provide a clear statement of the problem, the relevant literature on the subject. (Font size 12& 1.5 spacing)

8.       Materials and Methods should be complete enough to allow search / experiments to be reproduced. (Font size 12 & 1.5 spacing)

9.       Results should be presented with clarity and precision. The Discussion should interpret the findings in view of the results obtained in this and in past studies on this topic. State the Conclusions in a few sentences at the end of Discussion. (Font size 12 & 1.5 spacing)

10.   The Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc should be brief. Tables should be kept to a minimum and be designed to be as simple as possible and should be numbered. Figure (Photo plates and graphs) should be numbered, serially in numerals in order of appearance and prepared using JPEG file for reduction.

II.            REFERENCES

                The references should be in an alphabetical order or listed in numerical sequence on a separate sheet. References should be cited in full in the reference list, including the title and the first and last page numbers.

B.         PEER REVIEW POLICY

          The following types of contribution to Media Messenger Bilingual Research Journal are peer-reviewed: Research papers, Articles and Case Study.

          Articles published in this journal, for its content and accuracy the author / contributor will be responsible, editor will not be responsible. Controversial issues & articles will not be accepted & published.

          Selection or rejection of articles, research papers or case studies will be decided by peer review committee and editorial board, the decision of selection or rejection will be irrevocable and it will be communicated to author by email.

C.            PROOF READING

          Proof reading should be done by the author or contributor. The editor of journal will not be responsible for any grammatical or spelling mistakes.

D.           DECLARATION

          A declaration form is attached with this copy at end; every author should sign it and send it to info.mmbrj@gmail.com in the form of scanned copy.

E.            COPYRIGHT

          Media Messenger Bilingual Research Journal will acquire copyright of over all published material. Author / Contributors should submit an agreement form in the specified format for copyright transfer and declare about authenticity of the literature and originality of the data, without which the paper will not be published online. This form should be submitted along with proof corrections.

F.             PRIVACY POLICY

      The authors identity in the form of name, email id, mobile / land line number, address or account details will not be shared with any other individual.  

G.           ADDRESS OF COLLEGE

MGM College of Journalism & Mass Communication,

N-6, CIDCO, Mahatma Gandhi Mission Hospital Campus,  Aurangabad – 431003

DECLARATION

I, ………………………………….. Author of this article/ research paper / case study would like to declare that I have followed all the rules and regulations given by MMBRJ. I assure that

·               I have seen and approved the content of the submitted manuscript.

·            The paper presented by me is the original work, and not previously published in similar form and not currently under consideration by another Journal.

·            If this paper contains any material (data or information in any other form) that is the intellectual property and copyright of any other person(s), then I have mentioned the reference of it in correct manner or I have taken permission of the copyright from owner(s) to publish that material.

Sign  :

Date                :

Place               :

  This is to be signed by the Author and send the scanned copy by mail while submitting the paper.

---

For any help, pl  email to info.mmbrj@gmail.com. 

Symbiosis International Conference on Media and Communication: Prospects and Challenges

Prof Ruchi has sent in the following announcement on SIMC's International Conference with modifications in the details published earlier in this blog:

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC)

(A Constituent of Symbiosis International University -- SIU)

International Conference on Media and Communication:

Prospects and Challenges

Symbiosis Knowledge Village, Lavale, Pune (October 6-7, 2016)

Call for Papers

Over the years, communication domain has undergone a tremendous change. It is an era where the overwhelming presence of digital media in multifarious aspects has questioned the existence of traditional media. This conference aims to question the epistemological understanding of the global dichotomy and debates prevalent in media consumption and the challenges to future sustainability therefore. The conference seeks to interrogate and answer the dominant challenges in contemporary communication and media mosaic.

At the other end of the spectrum, the media and advertising industry has always made huge bets on content creation, brand advertising and campaigns with little to no empirical data to support their spending. Big data and predictive analytics technologies represent the opportunity to turn the table on the house. Furthermore, unstructured data such as digital photos, videos and social media are growing at an even faster rate than structured data. As a result, an entire new industry has formed around storing, sorting, viewing and gleaning business insights.

The conference aims to provide a platform to media professionals, academics, social scientists, research scholars, industry professionals and students to exchange ideas in various fields of media and communication. Both national and international participants are expected to attend the conference. It will be beneficial to media and communication researchers, academics, students, journalists, professionals in communication business and policy makers. It is aimed at bringing together intellectual minds and facilitating scholarly exchange of ideas and contributing to knowledge.

Objectives

·        To facilitate multifaceted discussion with professionals in media and communication and to demonstrate and exemplify their work and skills.

·        To evaluate the effectiveness of global socio-cultural discourses in the debate of media dichotomy.

·        To understand how the traditional media will sustain in this digital age.

·        To provide a forum for diverse interdisciplinary research perspectives.

·        To develop and encourage media and communication research interest for social and technological development.

Tracks

In all, the conference will have five tracks which will delve into diverse contemporary issues related to media and communication and highlight issues that are of global concern. They will broadly cover areas such as Media, Culture and Society; Media Ethics, Laws and Policies; Focus on New Media; Business and Marketing Communications; and The Epistemological Shift in Marketing and Media Analytics.

Track 1: Media, Culture and Society

This track aims to discuss and argue on one of the most critical facets of media studies – culture. This track invites conceptual, theoretical and empirical papers that investigate media discourses on different dimensions of the social, political and cultural framework of society. The papers can be based on the broad sub-themes mentioned below. However, this is an indicative list and researchers are welcome to contribute on any subject that can be included in the context of media and culture studies:

·        Media and Popular Culture

·        Media Representations and Identity Construction – Discourses on Gender, Sexuality, Class, Religion, Caste

·        Media and the Concept of Ideology

·        Feminism and Feminist Theories

·        Media Audiences – Audience as Outcome, Audience as Agent, New Audiences

·        Media and Globalisation, Contemporary Global Issues

·        Media and Communication Theories

·        De-westernisation of Media Theories (Emerging Thoughts and Theorists)

·        Media and the Concept of Power

·        Media Literacy, e-learning, ICT, Instructional Media

·        Visual Communication

·        Political Communication

·        Research Paradigms in Media and Communication Studies

·        Development Communication and Development Journalism

·        Community Communication

·        Diaspora and Media

·        Health and Communications

·        Film and Television Studies

Track 2: Media Laws, Ethics and Policies

The importance of media laws and ethics has been increasing day by day. There has been a perennial conflict between a citizen’s civil liberties and societal expectations and goals. In defining the limits of the citizen’s protection, one faces at every stage difficult questions arising from conflict of values. Where does a citizen’s right to free speech begin and end? Of late, the law of sedition, for instance, has become the most controversial piece of legislation as questions have been raised over its legitimate application and enforcement. What constitutes incitement to violence and whether the government can book anyone under this law merely for hate speech (which can be tried under other laws) even if there is no explicit incitement to violence as ruled by the Supreme Court of India? Though the freedom of speech is the sheet anchor of democracy, it is circumscribed by reasonable restrictions. The media – print, electronic and digital -- is free in India and many other countries. However, it does not enjoy a special status vis-à-vis the citizens with respect to laws such as the freedom of speech and expression, law of sedition and law of defamation. Papers are invited for the following sub-themes:

·        Freedom of Speech and Expression

·        Law of Sedition

·        Law of Defamation – Civil and Criminal

·        Contempt of Court

·        Cyber laws with special reference to the Information Technology Act

·        Right to Privacy

·        Right to Information

·        Film Censorship

·        Media Ethics

·        Policy Intervention and Governance

Track 3: Focus on New Media

McLuhan’s adage, the medium is the message, could not be truer than it is today. While one may argue that technological determinism does not drive the society alone, it would not be an exaggeration to state that new media technologies shape the structure and agency of the society. This track aims to discuss the changing face of media and focuses on new media from the perspectives of emerging technologies and the possibilities created by them. The papers can be based on the broad topics mentioned below. However, this is an indicative list and researchers are welcome to contribute on any subject that can be included in the context of new media.

·        Social Media

·        New Media and Activism

·        Blogosphere

·        Mutualisation of News

·        Citizen Journalism

·        Mobile Journalism

·        The Changing Nature of New Media Audiences

·        New Media Identities

·        Digital Literacies

·        Emerging Communication Technologies

·        Gaming, Designing and Graphics

·        Digital Media vs Traditional Media

·        Research Paradigms in New Media Studies

·        E-Governance and Policy-Making

Track 4: Business and Marketing Communications

This track aims to discuss and understand the growing consumer complexities and the effective utilization of innovative business models and marketing communications. Today’s branding world has shifted from branding 2.0 to branding 3.0 where co-created brands are gaining prominence in the complexity of the challenging marketplace. The consumers have become demanding and choosy with the emergence of the Millennial. No longer are one communication strategies working but mixtures of multiple strategies, both in traditional and digital formats are being implemented. Public Relations have gained prominence and corporate organizations are adopting appropriate proportion of Public Relation strategies along with the branding strategies. The papers can be based on the broad sub-themes mentioned below. However, this is an indicative list and researchers are welcome to contribute on any subject that can be included in the context of Business and Marketing Communications:

·        Branding and the Digital World

·        Consumer Behaviour

·        Marketing to the Millennial

·        Branding in Augmented Reality

·        Innovative Business Model for the Future

·        Public Relations – Researches and Strategies

·        Co-creation

·        Branded Content

·        Media and Sports

·        B2B Marketing

·        Tourism Branding

·        Advertising to Cosmopolitan Culture and Ethnic Groups

·        Branding and Culture

·        Corporate Social Responsibility

·        Green Marketing and Sustainability

·        Branding and Psychology

·        Employee Branding

·        The Agency Business

·        Crisis Communication

Track 5: The Epistemological Shift in Marketing and Media Analytics

The era of "Analytics" is clearly upon us as media and marketing professionals. It is becoming a catchall phrase and definitely one of the more hyped terms of the past couple of years. It is estimated that big data and its analysis is the most transcending paradigm shift to hit media and marketing since the invention of the telephone. Simply put, big data refers to a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process them using traditional data processing applications. Although estimates vary widely, research conducted by CSC estimates a 4,300 percent increase in annual data generation by 2020.

This ever-increasing quantity of data not only generates enormous challenges but also presents an opportunity for new business models. This track aims to create a platform for industry and academia to make the most of this growing phenomenon and the way it is affecting the way we do business and create content in the communications space. Sub-themes of this track listed below are meant to be guidelines, yet not restrictive:

·        Big Data and Consumer Marketing

·        Communication Policies and Technology

·        Analytics and new paradigms

·        Data and the evolving media business

·        Fusion of Media and Tech- the new face of Marketing

·        The Communication Process: Data Decoding

·        Marketing 3.0

·        Analyzing Cultural codes

·        Emerging Marketing and Media Business Models in  an Analytical world

·        Participatory Communication Research

International Review & Advisory Committee

1. Dr. Daya Thussu, Professor, International Communication and Co-Director of India Media Centre, University of Westminster, London, UK

2. Dr. Stephen McDowell, John H. Phipps Professor of Communication, College of Communication & Information, Florida State University, USA.

3. Dr Sony Jalarajan Raj, Graduate Chair, Dept. of Communication, MacEvan University, City Centre Campus, Edmonton, Canada and Editor-in-Chief,

Media Watch Journal

4. Dr. Suresh Ramanathan, Professor, Marketing, Mays Business School, Texas, USA.

5. Dr. Thomas H. Stanton, Academic Chair, International Conference of Public

Administration; and Senior Fellow, Centre for Advanced Governmental Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C., USA

6. Dr. Joseph Haldane, President & CEO, International Academic Forum; and Guest Professor, School of International Public Policy, Osaka University, Nagoya, Japan

7. Dr. Dileep Padgaonkar, R K Laxman Chair Professor, Faculty of Media, Communication & Design, Symbiosis International University (SIU)

8. Dr Sunil Kanta Behera, Professor of Eminence, Journalism & Mass Communication, Tezpur Central University, Tezpur, and Expert Member,

National Assessment and Accreditation Council

9. Dr. Anita Basalingappa, Associate Professor, MICA, Ahmedabad

10. Dr. Nishant Shah, Professor, Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media, Leuphana University, Lueneburg and Co-founder, Centre for

Internet and Society, Bangalore.

11. Dr Rachamarla Madhavi Reddy, Head of the Dept. and Associate Professor, Communication, Savitribaiphule University, Pune

12. Dr. V. Eshwar Anand, Professor, Journalism and Media Studies, Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC)

13. Prof Ruchi Jaggi, Director, SIMC

14. Dr Ashwani Upadhyay, Associate Professor, Communication Management & Research, SIMC

15. Dr Sabyasachi Dasgupta, Asst. Professor, Communication Management & Research, SIMC 

16. Dr. Yogesh Patil, Head, Research & Publications, Symbiosis Centre for Research and Innovation, SIU

Organising Committee

1. Prof Anupam Siddhartha, Dean, Faculty of Media, Communication & Design, SIU and Director, Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, Pune.

2. Prof Ruchi Jaggi, Director, SIMC (Convener)

3. Prof Vinay Mundada, Director, Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune

4. Prof Vishal Bhende, Director, Symbiosis School of Photography, Pune

5. Prof Vikram Sampath, Director, Symbiosis Centre of Media and Communication, Bangalore

Important Dates For Abstracts & Full Papers

1. Last date for 300-word Abstract submission:  April 30, 2016 

2. Intimation of Abstract acceptance                 :  May 10, 2016

3. Last date for Full Paper submission              :  June 30, 2016   

4. Review of papers and intimation                   :  July 31, 2016 

5. Final submission of Full Papers                    :  Aug 31, 2016 

6. Conference dates                                           :  Oct 6-7, 2016

Registration Fee Details

Industry professionals                                              Rs 8,000

Academicians/Government/NGOs from India        Rs 6,000

Students Research Scholars                                     Rs 3,000

SIU faculty                                                               Rs 5,000

Delegates from African countries                            US$ 100

Delegates from Asian countries                               US$ 150

Delegates from USA, Europe, other countries        US$ 250

(For early-bird registration, Rs 1,000 less in all categories)

Contact Details

connect@icmac.in Ph: 8308827639

For Submissions: icmacsubmission@simc.edu

For queries, if any: icmacqueries@simc.edu

For details, visit Conference website: www.icmac.in