Int'l conference on media ombudsman begins today

The 11th international conference of Global Communication Association (GCA), on the theme ‘Ombudsman: Media and Social Responsibility’ will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Crawford Hall, here, on Thursday.

The University of Mysore (UoM), which is celebrating its centenary this year, is the academic partner of the two-day conference (www.gcaconference.com), being organised by the GCA. This is the sixth such conference being held in India.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, Member of Parliament from Mysuru-Kodagu Prathap Simha, UoM Vice Chancellor K S Rangappa, Chairman of Singapore-based My Kingdom Holdings Venu G Somineni and Chairman of GCA Yahya R Kamalipour will participate.

Awards

A P Chowdappa memorial award for excellence in communication in six categories will be presented on Friday at a private hotel in the city. Former chief minister S M Krishna, Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, and former union minister Manish Tewari will be present.

“At a time when there is a massive explosion of media, it is increasingly being looked upon as a powerful instrument of social change. On the flip side, there are also other ‘powerful forces’ that will misuse media for vested interests. To enable the debate, the GCA has invited industry and academic experts from across the globe,” said K S Rangappa, vice chancellor, University of Mysore, and 11th GCA conference president.

“The conference will provide an opportunity for discussing topics concerning government and private organisation communication strategies. It aims to share the knowledge dealing with the ways and methods in which an NGO, for example, can use communication tools to gain substance and credibility.

“The communication patterns between the government and the public and ways in which we can make it more effective and people friendly and identification of the target audience through proper communication can be achieved”, says Yahya R Kamalipour.

“In the two-day conference, there will be over 62 speakers, 12 keynotes addresses, 10 panel discussions, 24 paper presentations, seven awards with over 400 delegates participating from around the world.

“The speakers will discuss different topics with an intrinsic aim to share information, promote culture, identify challenges, find solutions and exchange the most updated knowledge on various topics of public relations, media and communication”, said Krishna B Mariyanka, conference curator and organising secretary.