Guest Lecture by Mr B V Rao

The Corporate Relations Committee Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE) organised a guest lecture Mr B V Rao, News and Media Director at Reliance Industries Limited, who graced our campus with his presence on 15th November, 2014. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry, having worked as editor, group editor and also been an active visiting faculty at MICA and Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication.

The session started with an active discussion on some “housekeeping tips” which had the students in splits, following which there was an active discussion on the current state of news and media, the stars of TV media including names like Barkha Dutt, Arnab Goswami , Markandeya Katju, Rajedeep Sardesai amongst others, leading up to the business of news and media. He talked about the state of creativity and flow of idea in the media industry. There are innumerable TV channels, Magazines and newspapers in circulation today. While trying to survive in this competition of getting the highest TRPs and engaging the viewers for longer times, channels are losing out on creativity of its content. While discussing this current state, he mentioned that there is not dearth of talent but the medium has become too big for the message. For TV, it’s turning out to be a battle for content which is turn taking its toll on the art of journalism

The session slowly steered towards the things we can expect with the advent of technology and digital media, and how we can hope for a real turn around in the way things are run in the industry.

The interactive session helped the students gain a lot of insight into the business of news, stars of the media industry and the way forward. Sir encouraged open discussions and answered all the questions very patiently. We thank him for sharing his knowledge and thoughts and look forward to having further interactions with him.