Charudatta Deshpande's death has raised questions about the trying nature of a public relations executive's job. Indulekha Aravind and Priyanka Sharma find out how unrealistic demands from clients and outlandish promises by agencies can wreak havoc
Last Friday, the body of former corporate communications head of Tata Steel, Charudatta Deshpande, was found hanging in his flat in Mumbai. Over the following days, the circumstances that might have pushed him over the edge were brought to the fore in an open letter written by a group of journalists and executives to Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry, former and current heads of Tata Sons, which said: "Charu was placed under enormous stress and subjected to harassment by officials at Tata Steel. Our understanding is it was this harassment that prompted him to commit suicide."
The harassment, the letter suggests, arose from a Forbes India report on Tata Steel published in April that highlighted the challenges the company was facing. After the article was published, Deshpande had to face two kinds of pressures, says former Forbes India editor Indrajit Gupta. "A few executives in Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) felt that Deshpande should have been able to influence the outcome of an independent journalistic effort, but when the article appeared, they believed he had failed in his mandate." The other pressure came from Jamshedpur, the site of Tata Steel's biggest plant, where Deshpande had been based. "Some senior executives there believed he had leaked crucial information around the succession issue at the behest of Bombay House," says Gupta, one of the seven journalists who wrote to Mistry and Tata. Following the publication of the report, Deshpande had told friends and relatives he was being threatened, placed under house arrest in Jamshedpur, had his phone tapped and, apparently, was even forced to sign some documents, says the letter, which demands a probe into the issue.
Deshpande's was an extreme step, taken by a man pushed against the wall. Nevertheless, it emphasises the often relentless pressures that corporate communications teams and public relations, or PR, agencies have to function under.
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Companies say agencies promise the moon. That's because there are hundreds of agencies, big, small and one-person outfits, which promise everything to bag accounts. There are no entry barriers; anybody with a cellphone, laptop and Internet dongle can get into the business. Those companies that don't know how the media works get conned. Agencies parade a team of at least half a dozen while pitching for an account; once the account is bagged, the juniormost is put on the job. In large agencies, it is not uncommon to find a fresher saddled with six to seven accounts.
But it works the other way too. Communication executives and agencies say because of the client's ignorance, they are often left to battle with their unrealistic expectations. The unwritten, but clear mandate is to "manage the media," says the communications head of a prominent Bangalore-based company who has also worked in an agency. "Every time the report of a farmer committing suicide appeared in the media, for example, emails from an MNC would go back and forth from its US and India offices with the question: how did you let that appear." What is unsaid: what are we paying you good money for? "The job of a corporate communications executive in India is a mix of lobbying, maintaining good relations with the government and 'fixing' the media," he says.
Things are not too different in the stodgy public sector undertakings. A former public sector communications executive remembers that his job was to arrange publicity for his boss, the chairman and managing director, as well as the minister under whom the company fell. A key part of his job was to carry gifts to the minister's home from the CMD.
If the client is a small player, the PR agency is expected to raise its profile, which is usually a nightmare for the executives because no journalist would be interested in writing about the sixth biggest exporter of gems or another garment store, though the company might firmly believe otherwise. Subhashish Bharuka, CEO of Springhead Communications, says he has often received demands on the lines of "We want coverage in The Times of India despite a press release that has little news value. If it does not appear, chase the journalist to death. But get coverage." And the pressure translates down the ranks. Naina Narang*, a 25-year-old executive in a leading public-relations agency, recalls one particular incident when she was driven to desperate measures. A manufacturer of beauty products wanted its brand featured in a leading glossy or a lifestyle supplement before the month was over. Her boss refused to accept that it was not possible. "Make it happen, I was told," she says. And so she did. "When I found out that the journalist was writing about hand cream, I fibbed that the brand was planning to launch a new hand cream." Since the company was a start-up, it did not mind that the news was factually incorrect, she says.
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Many companies continue to view the media through the limited binary prism of good press and bad press. When a report that the company does not consider favourable to its reputation appears, the communications team is on the firing line. And, as is believed to have happened in Deshpande's case, whenever there is a leak from the company, the first person to be targeted will be the corporate communications head, even though common sense dictates that it would be diametrically against his interest to disclose confidential information to the press. The biggest irony, agencies say, is that when there is good coverage in the press, the management gets the credit and if there are unfavourable reports, the communications team gets the blame.
Neither is the news media entirely blameless in this state of affairs. If companies believe that journalists can be "fixed," it is because there have been instances where compliant editors or reporters have played along, as was revealed when the Niira Radia tapes were leaked. For all these reasons, companies often choose an agency based on its relationship with the media. When interviewed for positions in PR agencies, admit many executives, they are openly asked, "How many senior journalists are you friendly with?" The right answer may get you the job without further questions. The first and most important parameter when hiring a PR agency, affirms a senior corporate communication head at an MNC, is its relations with large media houses and senior editors. "Most companies with strong internal corporate communication teams do not like to ask favours from journalists or kill reports directly," she admits. "So we use the PR agency to do our dirty work." The agencies know their role. "We are not treated as adept white collared professionals like our counterparts in the West," says Jashoda Madhavji, associate vice-president, Metigon Enterprises.
Most professionals acknowledge that pressure comes with the territory. But what happened to Deshpande, everybody says, should never happen to anyone. Following the letter written to the Tata brass, Cyrus Mistry responded with the assurance that the allegations surrounding Deshpande's death would be investigated by an internal panel and that the group "does not and will not condone any action of the kind insinuated in your letter". A former Tata Steel executive who was also acquainted with Deshpande says he is confident the group will do what needs to be done. "Their reputation is their greatest asset," he says. But apart from exposing the often unrealistic expectations those in the public relations sector have to deal with, the tragedy has also resulted in something no company wants: a public relations crisis.
*Name changed to protect identity
