The key to winning the war of communication and media pre-independence era and for long time post-Independence era were Print – Newspapers and Periodicals, and Radio. The big names of the Pre-Independence India were either the owners or the editors of the Newspapers or Periodicals. The tallest leaders of Pre-Independence India were controlling the communication. Those were the times of ‘Socialist communication’. The owners or the editors of the newspapers or periodicals had no interest in making profits but the idea was dissemination of this information. The congress had controlled the communication in the Pre-Independence Indian era by the help of having great thinkers, philosophers, and editors in the party.
The time started to change in 80s and the focus shifted to Television but the core to winning the war of communication remained unchanged. The Newspapers and Radio still enjoyed the state of dominance. We can safely say that this was the gold era of communication – The era of ‘Capitalist Communication’. This is the time when every big business house and political parties had some interest in owning the pie of media house. This is the time when we saw growth of Lutyens Media – who believed in ‘you scratch my back & I scratch yours’! The Lutyens Media till recently were controlling the media landscape of India but the power centre of the media houses started to change roughly a decade back. This golden era of communication was absolutely in control of the congress with the help of Lutyens Media.
In last one decade or so the emergence of internet, mobile communication, and social media has changed the communication landscape completely. The power of the communication and the ownership of the media has changed from the hands of media owners to the hands of the citizens – evolved digital enthusiasts and influencers. We are going through the time of ‘Democratization of Communication’. Congress and other political parties for more than a century controlled the communication but the control of the media is transferring from the hands of the bright and mighty of political and business world to the hands of the common citizens.
This Democratization of Communication needs to be controlled and make in use for our benefit. This new form of control is only possible through the controlling the minds of the citizen with help of impactful content. Task is not easy but not very tough either. The mantra of winning the new age communication war is all about engaging evolved digital citizens and influencers. The campaign management team should master the art of engaging the new age communication stake owners in plotting the campaign.
A good campaign manager should be a skilled marketer with strong understanding of creative, content, and technology. He should have good knowledge about different tactics and methods to achieve success. Most importantly, he should have proven leadership in the field of marketing and digital communication. It is important to understand that no election campaign can be a success by a single person’s effort, for this team effort is required. A great campaign management team comprises of researchers who have good understanding of politics, and economy, content writers, and journalists. It will not be wrong to say that to win the new age communication one needs to build an in-house media organization. A media organization that is free from the clutter of yester-years media approaches. This is new age media that requires new age communication equation.
Also published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/who-moved-my-media-braj-mohan-chaturvedi-/
