Hurling shoes at politicians as an act of protest has off-late seems to have found notoriety after an Iraqi journalist, Mumtazar al-Zaidi, hurled his shoes at the then US President George Bush in December last year. A German student Martin Jahnke threw a shoe at vising Chinese premier Wen Jiabao during a speech at Cambridge University in February this year. Another Journalist Jarnail Singh employed with Dainik Jagran flung a shoe at Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram at a press conference in New Delhi in April. Recently, there was a similar incident took place in Kurukshetra. This time it was retired school principal hurled a shoe at Parliament contesting candidate Navin Jindal, during a public meeting. In another incident just a couple of days back a political worker hurled a chappal at LK Advani. Few days back, an attempt was made to the PM. Fortunately, almost in all these incidents the footwears didn’t hit the target.

Throwing shoes at leaders and politicians seems to have become the easiest way of registering a protest. These incidents, which have happened in quick succession, have raised many eyebrows. From the traditional trend of mudslinging, now shoe slinging as a new trend is increasingly followed. This has certainly caused concern to many. The National Security Guard (NSG) has already expressed its concern over the security of P Chidambaram. Now it is a cause of great concern for Press Meets organizers too. It is for sure these incidents will not stop there. There is no guarantee that such incidents won’t reoccur in future. Who is going to the be next victim. If for any reasons shoe-flingings are repeated, professionals involved in organizing such meetings or press meets will have a tough time to cope up with them.

Shoes flinging by the Nizam of Hyderabad

Historically we have couple of unpleasant incidents of footwear flinging in protest. One such incident was of the Nizam of Hyderabad and Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of The Banaras Hindu University, in North India. The story goes like this: While Malviya was trying to build the university, he had to overcome many difficulties and barriers. There was a fund crisis. But he did not get disheartened and went from town to town, met many rich men and traders to collect donations. Then he went to the Nizam of Hyderabad to request him funds.

But the Nizam was furious, ‘How dare you to come to me for funds, that too for a Hindu University?’ he supposedly roared with anger and took off his footwear and flung them at Malviya.

Malviya picked up the footwear and left silently. He went directly to the market place and began to auction the footwear. As it was the Nizam’s footwear, many bidders came up. When the Nizam heard of this, he became uneasy. He thought it would be an insult if his footwear were to be bought by someone for a pittance.

So he sent one of his attendants with the instruction, ‘Buy that footwear no matter what the bidding price be!’  Malviya managed to sell the Nizam his own footwear for a huge amount of money and finally used that money to build the university (biggest university still in the whole Asia today).

Measures to protect VIPs against shoe flingers

Coming to our times, following these incidents, I am sure the police are taking adequate precautions. But, what can the police also do to stop these incidents. Some politicians maintained when we organize any political meetings we must ensure that the political leader is at least 20 to 25 feet away from crowd. They didn’t even rule out wire mesh between the speaker and the public to avoid any embarrassment.

But, how can this be address during press conferences. The incident has started giving PR people nightmarish jitters. There is a lot of interesting talk circulating around in the PR industry and people are wondering how one can avoid an embarrassment in the future. This topic seems to be bothering a lot of public relations professionals, consultants, and agencies, who regularly organize press conferences.

Hurling shoes hurts. While George Bush has taken it in his stride, Chidambaram was very uneasy, but magnanimous enough to forgive the journalist. But, how can they be stopped in future.

The best thing to address this issue is to probably enter the venue bare-feet (see a humorous take). This is quite a common practice in our culture to leave footwear before entering temples, homes and some religious and holy place, according to D. Anil Kumar, Corporate Communications professional working with a Hyderabad infrastructure company. But is that workable? It is a million dollar question, which time only will answer. But, he hastened to add that it is not practically possible in every case, but at least in a few special cases where there is the sensitivity of the subject such as LTTE or where a speaker is of controversial in nature, say Naredra Modi, Praveen Thogadia, and other leaders of communal in nature, he added.

Even if media personnel are requested to leave their footwear before they enter into conference hall still that is not fool proof as some more items such as paper balls, ink or water is available to throw. But, these things won’t hurt as much as a shoe.

Where there is the sensitivity of the subject involved, one needs to think twice to be careful about such press conferences. Take for instance the press briefings of Jaya Lalitha, Karunanidhi, etc. They fall in such nature. But, steps taken to stop such incidents may not be still foolproof. I think we need to live with them as it is, opined Anil.

Let us see what other options (hypothetically speaking) are available to Press Conference organizers.

1. Hiring Bouncers for the press meets

2. Opting for video-conferencing instead of face-to-face meets.

3. Having bullet-proof glass panes installed between the client and the media.

4. Have the client speak from specially erected booths or cabins or caging themselves in them at the press meets.

5. Chain the audience to their chairs.

None of the above options seem practical. Except in case of VVIPs and other dignitaries like the President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Governors and other heads of states and some high profile Ministers, caging them in a specially erected booths and addressing Press Briefings may not be possible.

Sudhanshu, another Corporate Communications professional working with a local corporate house said we need not worry much about these incidents. They are just a few stray cases. Don’t expect them to be repeated. Let us not give much attention to it, he said.

How does the hotel industry, particularly five star hotels, where normally press conferences are held, view this? When asked a banquet professional of a star hotel who wanted to be anonymous said it is the matter of organizer and their invitees. There is nothing much a hotel can get involved. And I don’t think any hotel can claim that they can do something to stop such incidents. Banquet arrangements, seatings are done as per the client’s requirement. Even if we know of threat perception(read as shoe flinging) of a particular individual, there is hardly any thing that we can do to stop it, he explained.

Is throwing shoes ok?

Hurling shoes is better than bullets and bombs. That is the only way available to common citizens. But, unfortunately when journalists are concerned, it tantamounts to professional misconduct. Journalists are watchdogs of the society. They are not supposed to take sides. Why was Jarnail Singh not booked for his shoe attack on the minister? Why didn’t his employer Dainik Jagran own responsibility for his professional misconduct as the journalist in case has gone there as its representative. Jarnail Singh himself disapproves the means adopted by him. Look at the way similar incidents were treated by other countries. The Iraqi court sentenced Al-Zaidi who threw shoes at Bush to three years’ imprisonment (sentence is now reduced to one year) and the offender is now serving his jail term.

‘Journalists can not get involved emotionally in their profession. Journalists who go out to cover official assignments and press conferences should maintain the decorum(of press conferences) as they have greater responsibility. They cannot be biased. These repeated episodes of throwing shoes may impinge on the media’s freedom to cover events’, said Vijay Rao, a journalist. Many editors including K.S. Sachidananda Murthy of the Editors Guild had already condemned the incident and advised that journalists must practise restraint over their emotions.

A German student Martin Jahnke who threw a shoe at visiting Chinese premier Wen Jiabao during a speech at Cambridge University in February this year is facing prosecution for a public order offence in a British court. Those countries didn’t treat the insults heaped on foreign heads of states lightly and allowed the laws of the land to take their course, even if the offenders had a just cause to highlight. Offenders should not go unchecked, even if you are sympathetic to their cause and even if the offender is the journalist. In case of Jarnail Singh, the government looks like it could not afford to antagonize the media, especially when the elections are around the corner. But, what about its implications in future. This would send wrong signals. No one should be spared for public insult. Doesn’t this incident leave bad image of the press in public mind. The media image in public is gradually eroding and incidents like these spoil the total reputation.

Shoe throwing culture must be stopped. The act, a replay of Iraqi journalist’s, if goes unchecked, it would soon become the most powerful and abused tool of protest. Enormous publicity and huge support from like minded people, may encourage more to resolve such acts. Already, these acts have had lot of media and public attention. But, interestingly and unfortunately, we still dont have any security against these simple shoes.

But the lingo and buzz word that is making rounds in all the parties are using the new digital medium to connect with the voters. But one wonders how many netizens will go through blogs and other social networking media as the penetration of internet in our country is still very low. Yes with security a huge threat for the BIG leaders this is one of the best ways of getting in touch with the masses in an interactive manner through podcast and other interactive tools. For example, the big leaders can be online with the masses answering questions, which would have never been possible otherwise.

In the last elections, the mobile phone medium was used effectively as barrage of messages flew on to the handsets of people in even smaller towns. It is interesting to know that technology has sunk into these old fashioned politicians to woo the young voters who constitute a major percentage of India’s population. I am sure using this interactive medium will also change the mindset of the various party as I keep reading parties planning to promote IT by promising to distribute cheap laptops and build IT polices in to their election manifesto and thereby telling the world that India will be a technology savvy nation.

Let us wait and watch. How this is going to help the various parties? While the traditional medium and road show will go on but the new vehicle using digital will be a new medium to tap the youngsters to caste their vote. The result of this will be known to us in middle of May 09.

Also, 85% of the journalists surveyed said that images are very important. 35% said downloadable video/audio was (very) important. 29% said embed codes with video/audio was (very) important.

When asked specifically if web content was important to them in a release, 30% said it was (very) important.  Similar to what we’ve seen in the past, 33% said a downloadable logo was (very) important.

See more images below. The report in pdf and unedited responses are available at the PwR blog. View the survey here: PwR survey of journalists

In a landscape dotted by hungry journalists, anchors, show producer, sometimes this breed, crosses the line of prudence and fair practice in the quest for exclusives, scoops and the most dramatic of them all; stings! In times of deadline overload and a lack of any tangible research, editorial balance becomes the first casualty to TRPs, popularity polls and advertising revenue.

How many times have you had a trick e-mail or a innocuous phone call translate into a bombshell in the press the next day, or even the same day in these times of broadcast and online media explosion? If you are out there working the space, then I am sure you do this more than you’d like to and while we all employ our own ways and means to deal with the scourge, maybe the time is right for a discussion. Keeping quiet is not an option so here are a few PR plays I’ve seen practiced:

• No comment – This is the most basic defense of the scared communicator or resident PR punter in the establishment. It creates a doubt in the mind of the viewer or reader about the authenticity or veracity of the story but has the potential of making front page all the same or the lead story in the dozen or so television channels out there, business, news, and combinations thereof.
• We do not speculate on market speculation – This or another variation of the same featuring words like ‘policy’ are yet another wet blanket in terms of media credibility, will they stop your brand image from get a contentious tag or even a black eye is arguable.
• Denial – This is the last reprieve of either the aggrieved or the very stupid, especially if its a lie. It will give a pause to the editor or the journalist, who will question their gut, chances of going to print or being aired, fifty per cent.
• Half Agreement, half denial – This Molotov Cocktail is the most sophisticated of the ploys, and clearly agrees to all or some part of the allegation but uses the loop in technique to include crisis messaging. Sent as a quote and usually written, it forces the hack to use the statement in full. Only the most savvy can do this bespoke but chances of being quoted out of context or half quoted remain high.
• Retraction or Rejoinder – These are mostly ego plasters to paper over bruised management egos, striking how the size of the retraction and rejoinder is in contrast to the placement, font size and prominence of the offending piece.
• Confirming statement – This is the pushover statement, executed along with a sincere sorry note and a display of the belly in submission. These are very bad for the ego and best suited for real tragedies, fraud, accidents, calamities and other industrial or infrastructure and government type of communicators.

I am sure there are hilarious variations sitting out there in your very fertile and successful minds and would love to get any more classification here or a anonymous war story, do feel obliged to share your scary knowledge with the tribe.

These are some concerning times that need both awareness of the stakes and training, if it is your privilege to be charged as the guardian of your brand and company image. There are lots of ploys the feverish hack employs to in the get-rich-quick-or-get-fired-trying, exclusive hunt. You need to understand that it is their job to report, to analyze, to predict and to expose, the end is fine but the means are most questionable. This pool is further muddied by competition and the dirty tricks department using friendly media for planting, seeding or plain obfuscating an issue. I will not use examples but the watchful here will see and read patterns in politics, industry and most media reporting, even that front page headline or the lead story on that television channel that looks innocent at first pass. Go figure…

If they know that you know, then you will receive their respect and maybe the show can continue down the road for all. Right now these are dangerous times for Image and Brand and all seems fair in the media war for exclusives. Next week sticking to a statement and dodging trick questions on the phone. Happy skirmishing! 

I don’t want to analyse the win or the strategy they have adopted. Our friends in the media have already done enormous stories on it. We are going to discuss about how to know what to do and what not to do and how really one does effectively to win consumers or voters. And that’s what is called strategy.

It’s all about common sense and gut feeling…

Opinions polls painting different pictures, various researches showing some funny trends but you know what is right. You apply common sense to connect with common men and understand their wish. Do your own research to find out whether what you are saying is making sense or not. Above all, believe in what you are doing and do it well.

Identify the need…

Know your consumers. It is always said that once you know your consumer, you don’t need to know anything else. Identify what connects you with your consumer, what she needs and how can you fulfill her demandments (I had a book ‘The 10 Demandments’ – someone borrowed it forever. If anyone of you have a copy, please allow me to borrow and never return!)

Be independent in your thinking…

One of the biggest mistakes we make is compromise and never does business on our own terms. We follow industry trends, try to benchmark against someone and so on… Hey, c’mon guys God has given you a brain to use it and create something of your own and not to become Annu Mallik or Pritam or Mahesh Bhatt. Chart your own way and if I have to use management jargon here, develop Blue Oceans and enjoy the splash.

Choose your team carefully…

If everything goes well, Rajasthan Royals will be the champs of first IPL series. I have heard a RJ of one of the FM stations in Mumbai making a mockery of team at the beginning of IPL and now I am sure that RJ or the person who wrote the script must be feeling like hiding his face in the sand like an ostrich!

Great team is a team where every member of the team contributes towards the success and that forms a winning habit.

Know your competition…

This is another KYC – as important as knowing your consumers. Know as much as possible and do your homework right. Find out gaps and fill those gaps. Find out defecting consumers and grab them. Find out traitors and stay away from them. Know when and how they dance and what the platform they dance on is made of.

Learn the art of deception…

If you have read the Art of War by Sun Tzu, you know what I am talking about. It reads, “When able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe that we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.” I rest my case, your honour! Now, it’s up to you to write the judgment!

Leaders lead to serve people…

Leader should inspire trust. You should know who the leader is and he or she should be able to take his/her people along. Leaders do not get created by high command’s whims and fancies. Leaders emerge from within. They show the path, take responsibility for defeats and share fruits of winning. Lead from the front and again pardon me for going back to Sun Tzu but as he wrote and I quote, “The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness”.

Mission & Vision…

Share your manifesto, based on needs of your stakeholders. Connect with everyone emotionally and lead with passion. Success if yours to be taken. Winning will surely become habit and never fail to deliver on what you promised. Otherwise, as one of the old Bollywood song sings, “Yeh public hain, yeh sab jaanti hain… Andar kya hain, Bahar kya hain… yeh sab kuch pehchanti hain…”

Politics can be dirty but learning something from it, is not.

Take care my friends and don’t stay away from politics! Our country needs good servant leaders. Do you have it in you?