Mission Is To Transform Prasar Bharati Into ‘World’s Best Broadcaster’: New CEO Shashi Vempati

Shashi Shekhar Vempati, who is set to take charge as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, admitted to a trust deficit over the years which has pulled back the organisation, adding that his mission is to gain that trust in order to become the 'world's best broadcaster'.

Highlighting the importance of a national broadcaster, Vempati said, "The role of a national broadcaster is very critical in this era where you have a pressing debate over fake news, false narratives. There has to be one place where people of India can go to and know that they will always get the most trustworthy, credible version of what happened.”

Vempati also opined that just like other national broadcasters, even Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) have to act as a global voice and become the best in the list of the top broadcasters.

"We are a billion people democracy and this democracy deserves a global voice that reflects the aspirations of our youth. That is a role that a national broadcaster can play. Just like you have BBC, Al Jazeera etc., Doordarshan and AIR have to step up and be that global voice so that the world not only hears about India from us, but also gets our perspective on the global geo-politics," he said.

Vempati, while stressing on the importance of social media in the digital era, admitted that both, Doordarshan and AIR are lagging behind in this term, and that the topmost priority is to transform both in order to let them fit in this digital age.

Vempati reiterated that transforming Prasar Bharti into a 'digital Prasar bharti' will be a big priority.

"The overall expectation is how do we bring in a modern, corporate management practices, systems and digitally transform Prasar Bharati in this age, where most media is operating in the digital world. It is very important that both, Doordarshan and AIR transform themselves for the digital age. So, a digital Prasar Bharati is going to be a big priority," he said.

Highlighting their 'vision 2022', the to-be CEO stated that the project will work towards the making of a new India.

"The utmost priority is to modernise Prasar Bharati. It has to become a 21st century media organisation and it has to function like a modern corporate. So, getting all that changed to modernise Prasar Bharati is the topmost priority. We will work towards a vision 2022 of what role Prasar Bharati can play in the making of new India and that will drive our mission over the next five years," he said.

Explaining his vision further, the to-be CEO said that social media is going to play an important role for Doordarshan and AIR in drawing young audience towards them.

"Social media has become a very critical platform for the people to voice their opinions to the Government on the latest happenings and social media is important for us to understand what our audience wants. Social media plays a very critical role there. Also, we have to draw young audiences to Doordarshan and AIR and social media is going to be very critical in doing that," he said.

Responding to a poser on Prasar Bharati's role towards spreading word about the Government's initiatives, Vempati said, "The first critical role of dissemination is being done by us in a good way. There is a second critical role, that is engagement, involvement of people, listening to them, getting their feedback and creating content that includes their feedback and it establishes a two-way communication. This is very critical for these missions to be successful".

Vempati has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) of Prasar Bharati on the recommendation of the three-member committee headed by Vice President and consisting of Chairman, Press Council of India and the President's nominee i.e. Secretary, Information and Broadcasting for a period of five years from the date of his assumption of office.

Vempati is currently serving as a Member (part time) of the Prasar Bharati Board since February 2016.

As a part time member of the Prasar Bharati Board, Vempati has served as Chairman of Audit Committee, Member of Finance and Accounts Committee, Technology Committee, Sports Rights Committee and HR Committee.

An alumnus of IIT Bombay, Vempati has over two decades of experience as a Technocrat with specialization in areas of Corporate Management, Technology Consulting and Digital Media.

He has worked in Infosys for more than a decade as Product Strategist and Digital Innovator in North America. He currently holds two patents "Real Time Business Event Monitoring, Tracking and Execution Architecture" and "System and method for monitoring and management of inventory of products and assets in real time" under his name.

Vempati has authored several books namely "Broadcasting Technologies in India", "National Digital Security Architecture in India", "Creating a Global Media Platform out of India" among others.

With inputs from ANI.