Busy as a bee

PRANAB Mukherjee’s predecessors seldom interacted with media. But since he became President, journalists receive innumerable emails with press releases and photographs from the President’s Office. Pranab Mukherjee knows the power of media very well. He even informs the press well in advance as to which town, city, university and hospital, he is going to deliver a lecture. It is well-known that he is an articulate statesman. His media department is under severe pressure as there is often no time in between to issue press statements, releases and photographs. As a result, the release arrives in the reporters’ computers at 8 a.m. or even 11.30 pm! Over the year, Pranab Mukherjee has spoken on a wide range of issues—Vivekananda, leprosy, health, yoga, libraries, education, economic issues, child and women rights, and so on. The President’s speeches do no find a place in newspapers as he does not supply them with spicy news, but they are the bonanza for web news portals which are hungry for press materials and photographs free of cost. Apart from the media blitzkrieg, insiders say Pranabda is keeping keen watch on recent political developments even if he is not expressing his opinion.