Do celebs need a PR anymore?

Amitabh Bachchan recently revealed about Aishwarya’s pregnancy online.Bipasha Basu took to the social networking site when she was accused of child labour.
Priynaka Chopra wasted no time to circulate press releases and rather posted online that she is not doing “Heroine”.
All the above mentioned instances raise clear questions – do celebs need a PR anymore? Aren’t social networking sites becoming a threat to the famous PR machinery?
Ashok Kadsur, senior manager, South, Percept Talent says, “Yes, I feel there is a possibility that celebs may not need a PR.But the question is how soon it may happen.”
Bollywood’s well known publicist, Dale Bhagwagar, who has handled the personal PR for actors like Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Shilpa Shetty and many others, as well as PR for about 30 movies including “Don” and “Rock On” and more, says, “Star auras are at risk if celebrities begin addressing all issues on their own. They could lose that all-important charm of being ‘star like’. So they got to find ways of saying it without saying it.”
Neha Singh, director, Freshwater, however, points out another facet networking overdose. “Social networking sites are being misused by fakes which is causing celebs even more trouble and a lot of them are getting off it. While PR as a machinery is needed for the bigger pictures, social networking sites are just supplementing the final goal.”
Dale further explains, “PR is an intriguing mind game in a media minefield. Just like industrialists make products in the factory, many brands are created in the minds of PRs. When a star posts something on a public platform, there is no exclusivity in the news.
But media always craves for exclusivity and that comes with interviews, news breaks, gossip placements, strategic plugs and plants, photo opportunities, sound bytes, exclusive visuals and a lot many other image-building and day-to-day streamlining activities, which only a PR professional can effectively take care of. Though social media has its relevance, it cannot replace most of the branding activities carried out by publicists,” he says.