How to lose respect and become fool in front of 1000 IPRB readers: Thursdays with Tushar
By Tushar Panchal on Jul 3, 2008 in Indian PR industry
Please accept my sincere apologies for missing out an opportunity to be with you last Thursday. But I am extremely happy that the newly win friends Hemant and Renu are really writing some amazing stuff on the blog. Some original and refreshing thoughts are being shared by every one of us on the blog. But unfortunately not many people are like us and today I want to share a small story about how to lose respect and become fool in front of 1,000 IPRB readers.
My friends who read my column regularly must be remembering my ‘Thursdays with Tushar’ of May 2 9, 2008 wherein I wrote about ‘How to win votes and influence people’. Last morning I received a copy of June issue of ‘(Name deleted on request)’ – a house journal of PR Body (Name deleted on request) . I was reading it and I discovered one article by a known PR person (Name deleted on request) with a headline ‘Political public relations making emphatic inroads into India’. The objective was to know more about how people are looking at political PR but within first few lines I got a real shock!
The article I was reading in ‘(Name removed on request)’ by distinguished (Name deleted on request) was totally inspired (Sorry Anu Mallik & Pritam for using your copyrighted language, but can’t help it – mentioning that it is lifted is so uninspiring!) from my article. I am uploading a scanned copy of the article for your reading pleasure. If you feel that you have read it before – don’t blame me, you can write directly to (text removed on request) and thank him for such wonderful originality and inspiration. This is an absolute insult to my readers.
(Please note: We have removed the scanned image of the article from the post but IPRB has kept it in its archieves for internal use & refernece purposes. It is not for public viewing any more – sorry for inconvenience)
I have nothing personal against (Name removed on request) and I don’t care about him. What hurts me the most is that faking has not remained limited to porn movies but it has reached our profession as well! I am sorry (Name removed on request) , I wouldn’t have written this post today and might have given you an opportunity to lift someone else’s article from my blog and print it as yours in some other magazine but I had to do this as, you didn’t even bother to respond to my private mail sent to you. Now, do you want me to print that mail here as well?
Friends, let me sum it up today’s post with just two jewels of wisdom from me. It is for you (Name removed on request)
“If you don’t have it, you don’t have it. Stop being a pirate”
“Being original is difficult, copying and not being caught is even more difficult”
God Bless and Take care!
Hope to meet all of you my friends {(Name removed on request) not included} in my journey of life and searching its meaning.
Popularity: 10% [?]
On Jul 3, 2008, Bidya said:
I just had a hearty laugh after a long day. Pritam and anu mallik copy the tunes…this one’s called copy-paste
On Jul 4, 2008, Shashank Jaitely said:
Hi Tushar,
This is so unfortunate. You are a very kind person and I think you have been very lenient here. Plagiarism is simply unpardonable. You should use this forum to punish the culprit. I think you should also post the private mail you wrote to him and we all can do some anti-pr for this mr steal. The Bangalore PR community should know how incapable the leadership of the local chapter of PRCI is.
On Jul 4, 2008, Mario Pereira said:
Hey Dude
Good stuff. For once you have given it back to somebody. The so-called joker should be bombarded with mails on his blatant plagiarism. I cannot understand this guy. If he is robbing at least rob with a little class. The dumb schmuck that he is – robs from a website that is read by people. You know the industry is filled with jokers (Remember you were supposed to have written a post on them)
Anyways – Good you have exposed this “so called PR veteran “ – now this makes for interesting reading.
Sincerely
Mario
On Jul 4, 2008, Tushar said:
Dear Friends:
Words are more dangerous than nuclear bombs and who better than us in PR know about it. One line from Mukesh Ambani on a TV channel has given one more reliance to the world and created many job opportunities for many of my friends.
I got few requests to remove this post from the blog and move on with life for various reasons. I told them that I will do it only if my readers want me to do it.
Please click here and let me know your wish, I will do what you say.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8tFqcTO3lyXrPklRGqWQgQ_3d_3d
Take care.
Tushar
On Jul 4, 2008, devil's advocate said:
Panga with India PR Blog is dangerous to one’s career
http://tinyurl.com/5crr3o
On Jul 4, 2008, Vibhuti Agrawal said:
Y on earth should you take this post off the blog. Just because it exposes an industry veteran???
Please do not make any such attempt. Am sure I would not be alone if I were to say taking it off the blog would be unfair to many of your loyal readers who wait for such candid posts from you. So for their sake…
On Jul 4, 2008, Ashwini said:
It is very unfortunate that in an industry like ours wherein we are expected by clients to strategize on their accounts, we have these so called ’senior’ “professionals” who do these kind of acts. It is really unfortunate that people like these form a part of our fraternity.
On Jul 4, 2008, Anil Nagwani said:
I tell you this ‘Fast Food’ has had a strange effect on people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Jul 5, 2008, himanshu kapadia said:
boss tu to famous ho gaya, me sochta hu jab koi copy marta hai samjo u have arrived, dilipsab, amitabh, great musicians, painters, writers have ben copied, laugh over it, give a fitting reply to the fraud- may be send a mail to his boss( jo khud nahi kar sakta wooh company ka kya karta hoga), chalo i thought only ad industry me copy hota hai abhi pr aaa raha hai kabardar hoshiyar
On Jul 5, 2008, J' said:
Hi,
Now this is intresting!
I dont think you should remove this post.
On Jul 6, 2008, Krishna Mariyanka said:
My friend Tushar and rest of the IPRB team,
I was not hiding anywhere but traveling, unable to see many notes preceding this one. Hope you are all doing well…
I will not write a very long email, lest it should cause weekend fatigue and disinterest as it may not be relevant anymore in the post mortem, but long enough to clarify a few things which have perhaps gone unknown hitherto… also with so many things gone past my head and shoulders before I could even look into your first email/ note and respond back to you then. I cannot blame anyone. Just like many other professionals these days, I have been busy too in the last few of weeks. Indeed, not always silence is gold, I guess – but I never had a look at the umpteen ensuing emails till recently, but did hear about the issue over phone and did call in thereafter… in order to try and understand the issue on hand better – during my travel, but in vain. I was equally willing to respond, but over the weekend when I can usually find a bit more personal time. Better deferred than never.
Let me start with apologies for a situation so inadvertently occurring. I do not think anyone else has a role to be a part of it as I take this as a personal slip, of course without my own knowledge and diligence. Let me attempt and explain in the next few lines…
About a day before the publication edition was due to go under print, I was asked to write an article and send it sooner than later. I cannot remember the dates anymore. But all that I did was pass on the task to my private project office interns (two very young ladies, still from a mass communications college) to quickly prepare a draft article on political PR getting active because the elections in the state had just ended around that time. I was too busy to write one on my own and then the new interns really needed exposure of sorts…rest is history…and I do expect the trust in this case…
With reference to my suggestions to the interns, it only appears to me that interns had successfully googled out something from the net (possibly your reference article or another, I am not sure, which I believe is great by itself…I just managed to read a few lines from the link below for want of time). Later, when interns submitted the article to me, I did tell them… very well done and that I was impressed at their efforts to keep them motivated… however lapsed to verify the different authenticities connected to the same (I must have forgotten basics as I moved up in career ladder) even after they indicated that they had taken some reference points from a “newspaper/ news section??”…I am not very sure… but neither would I now look forward to bully them for any unintentional/ innocent act that they may not be aware of… but i would like to own it for now for the part that I failed to check the source and send the article for publishing, an oversight perhaps not acceptable in the industry. Somehow, it also then seemed the least necessity for me to do during the rush…quite honestly, I did not even attempt to make any changes to it, except giving an introductory input to them during briefing and towards the end…
Much less to “stealing a story” written by a fellow-colleague, it is a wonder on the communication lapses that happen in a professional’s life, even after a couple of decade’s experience in the field of communications and having written number of articles/ columns in the press and media in the past…alas! At the least, it was also not going to be re-written and claimed later to be self when the same was known to reach my own fellow-colleague in Mumbai and under an illusion that he would not get hands on a copy
?!?
Finally and of the course, I only wish if we had a bit more patience to receive my response first, the string of emails, other communications, presumptions etc., could have been well avoided unless I did not respond in eternity… as I said before too I had not picked up emails/ notes in sense owing to other works in my life. The last I needed to know is that an industry comrade would be upset for life because of an unkind situation sans “the truth” and without validation. That would be a disaster on its own. Again, no one to blame.
I will be happy to chat over a phone call when we have some time and seek better understanding in the contextual relation and if need be…the last I wish to lose is a industry friendship that did not even start… look forward to contribute and promote the PR movement in India alongside others and hope I have your support… for there are mammoth tasks to me accomplished before we all wear out:-)
While regretting any inconvenience caused to different parties unknowingly, hope that helps and satisfies and we can now lay it all to rest… unless a few more only read these between lines yet… opine that it is only a smart cover up/ easy pass, slyly written for a comfortable bail out, do not need to be pardoned and should be eternally put to public shame for an oversight simply inadvertent and not intended… Yep!…I had never seen the IPR blog before, but I have now subscribed to it just a few hours back!!
Monsoon is here finally, hope you are all having a good weekend.
Thanks and regards.
On Jul 6, 2008, Tushar said:
My dear friends:
I always tell my clients that Google never forgets and the world is getting more and more transparent. The truth travels much faster nowadays than it used to in good old Bapu’s days. We at IPRB believe in Gandhigiri and keeping the spirit of forgiveness in mind and in order to save a fellow PR person (and the organizations he is associated with) from any more humiliation, I have decided that I will change/hide the certain portion of the post in response to the SOS being sent by him over phone, in mails sent to me & the above explanation he left on our blog.
It is important to note for all of our readers/visitors that we are not against using any part of our blog for knowledge sharing purpose but it is a copyrighted material (see our disclaimer) and our written permission is necessary to print even one line from the blog. We will be glad to give it to you in spur of a moment. In fact, my column is being used by (with due credit given to author and IPRB of course!) by few online/offline magazines & publications on a regular basis. Please note that all the authors/contributors are doing this work for the love of the profession and are not being paid for to contribute on IPRB. We all do it voluntarily.
I am sure this will also serve as a case in point for many fellow PR professionals to understand the power of new media and how important it is to maintain certain professional standards and need for speed in responding to the crisis situation.
People who know me do know that I always standby for the beliefs I have. I am also known for calling spade a spade and do not mince my words for saying the truth even if I have to lose a business or a job. I do fight for causes and team. I love everything I do and I write with lot of passion and straight from the heart. I am willful all the times and live life on my own terms.
Well, as I mentioned we are amending the blog entry to help a fellow PR person come out of a situation he has entered into knowingly or unknowingly. Under any circumstances this should not be treated as a weakness of the author or the IPRB platform. We will continue to expose many such issues & people in the industry (with proofs & after giving 24 hours of lead time to respond to our queries & seeking their views on the matter) in days to come. If any of you have anything to share with the world and do not have guts to do so, come to us and we will do it without any fear on our platform.
Take care friends & God Bless!
Yours truly,
Tushar
On Jul 7, 2008, himanshu kapadia said:
mazza aa gaya, ek obsevation did krishnaji give some credit to gopis in the article
i reaaly dont get his statement (two very young ladies, still from a mass communications college) what does VERY YOUNG SIGNIFY 
, A SIMPLE SORRY COULD HAVE WORKED BUT I DONT BUY THIS ARGUMENT, TUSHAR ITS LEFT TO U TO BE GOD.
On Jul 7, 2008, Shashank Jaitely said:
Tushar, I think you should keep this post and you should not have edited the post. As I said, you are too kind and forgiving.
Because you have brought this unfortunate event out in the open in the PR community, it has actually become bigger than you and needs lot of discussions and point of views to settle this. This post should be like a learning for all and deterrent for plagiarism. Let us use this opportunity to take some steps forward to stop this menace of plagiarism, at least in the PR community. Everyone will be benefited, including our clients.
Tushar, will you ever use “very young interns” at your office to write Thursdays with Tushar whenever you are pressed with time and have to meet Thursday’s deadline? If yes, then you are free to delete it, but if not, then let is stay there and be a reminder for everybody.
On Jul 7, 2008, Elvis Fernandes said:
Dear Mr. Panchal
I am extremely confused about this “VETRAN” lack of ethics. He is so casual in mentioning that he got his interns to write an article that is expected out of him.
He is even more casual in expecting his interns to get some information out of google for the article.
Now this is the kind of boss — who is encouraging his interns to do things the wrong way. First in foremost he had no right to ask someone to write an article that is expected out of him. Secondly the Man seems to have no scruples in shifting the blame for his blunder on to his interns. How low can this guy get?
If the “supposedly interns” did pull the information out of the Net– the least he could have done was to verify the source of the information. I am convinced that this man will go to great length to do things in a shortcut manner — yeah we know he is busy – Isnt every one? But they all do not all subscribe to shortcut methods.
Now that he has been exposed rather than going through great length in justifying his faux pas (incidentally the same amount of time he has spent explaining himself could have been used to write the article plagrised by him — dont you think so.
Elvis Fernandes
On Jul 7, 2008, Palin Ningthoujam said:
You know once I had to give a phone number of a person A to my boss. Instead of giving his number, I gave another person B’s number. My boss dialed the number and asked on the receiver, “Hello is it person A?’ ‘Yes’ came the reply. Then my boss talked about why NOT to partner with person B for around two minutes. Then suddenly he said, “hello, am I talking to person A?’. “No, this is person B”. Imagine the situation. On another note, I even used to do a lot of copy paste from the net earlier while drafting the answers of one of those media questionnaires. Luckily it occurred to me that this could lead into serious problems and I started telling everyone in office not to resort to those tactics.
Shit happens all the time (mostly inadvertently). But we all can do a handshake and move on.
On Jul 7, 2008, Shashank Jaitely said:
Tushar, we would really like to know the result of your survey. Please do share the numbers with us. Bests.
On Jul 8, 2008, Preeti Khanna said:
Folks,
I think with acceptance and sanity, I feel we should leave this here and move on as it is getting too personal and it is not advisable on blogs (that is not what we want) as it can cause individual retaliations using names and out of the issue context, all leading to legal complications from privacy perspective. Editor to take control.
On Jul 8, 2008, Tushar said:
Dear Friends:
I think Preeti is right. Let’s put (.) to our discussion on the topic and move on. It is a good learning for everyone involved.
Take care & God Bless!
Tushar
On Jul 8, 2008, Shashank Jaitely said:
Hi Tushar,
Please share the learning with us too.
On Jul 9, 2008, Shael Sharma said:
Tushar: Your headline for this post seems to have some grammatical problems (I’d imagine something before ‘fool’). Anyway buddy like they imitation is the best form of flattery. While I see a lot of people poking fun here, I’d love to talk to someone perfect, who has not taken or been ‘inspired’. Knock it off now please and lets get on with something new.