Ministry of Energy of Russia Outlined Key Media Relations Topics for Fuel & Energy Companies in 2020
On 4 October, as part of the Russian Energy Week Forum, a state-wide conference took place on promotion of energy efficiency and transparency of fuel & energy companies, chaired by Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Anton Inyutsyn. CEOs, deputy CEOs, and leaders of media offices of authorized agencies in the area of energy development and utilities system of the Russian Federation, and senior management of energy companies participated in the meeting.
As was noted in the course of the meeting, fuel & energy is one of the most widely media-covered sectors of the Russian economy, which underlines the high level of public interest in the work of industry companies.
“Last year, an emphasis was put on publicizing three key topics in external media: modernization of the energy sector based on the use of up-to-date national technologies, fuel savings and reduction of fuel costs, and social lifts and education. Popularizing the topics that are currently central to the industry is very significant for making state and legislative decisions and for developing presidential initiatives. Together with the media and press offices of energy companies we create the informational background for adopting reforms geared toward stable growth of the industry. As new environmentally friendly technologies arise, the people of Russia demand higher and higher quality of our work. We must inform the public of the legislative and state decisions that are needed, thus keeping the public opinion in the right, positive mode,” noted Anton Inyutsyn in his opening speech.
Director of Interfax Financial and Economic Information Agency Yuri Pogorely presented statistical information on transparency of the fuel & energy complex. He noted that this year energy companies have begun to pay special attention to publicity of industry-wide problems. What is notable is that the share of Moscow-based media who cover fuel & energy issues is 43.4%. A large part of publications is owed to regional media and information agencies. Traditionally, key topics for discussion in the fuel & energy industry are large transactions and investment projects.
A tendency to greater media coverage of people who work in the fuel & energy industry has been noted in 2019.
Of all the sectors of the economy, fuel & energy industry accounts for the highest volume of publications. From October of last year to October of this year there were over 2.5 million publications dealing with the fuel & energy complex.
Mr. Inyutsyn emphasised the important role that the MediaTEK competition plays in assessing the coverage media and press offices provide for the work of the fuel & energy complex. “I want to note the interest that energy companies display in the MediaTEK competition. The number of applications for participation has grown significantly this year; there were 443 from 54 regions. Next year we recommend involving the local media and small energy companies in the competition. The Ministry, in its turn, will update a number of MediaTEK nominations that will reflect the latest topics for 2020,” emphasized Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
In the course of discussion, representatives of energy companies have expressed their wishes and shared their experience in covering the important topics of the fuel & energy complex. The speakers gave special attention to covering the Together Brighter Energy Conservation Festival; as part of the festival events take place all over the country and traditionally attract a lot of media and public attention.
“In our communications work we sought, among other things, to follow recommendations of the Ministry of Energy of Russia that were worked out at the last year’s meeting. Priority was given to modernization of the power grid infrastructure and to education: to creating a positive image of the energy worker. We conducted large-scale training in preparation for the Student Games in Krasnoyarsk. There were over 2,000 participants in the Energy Leaders project. Also, 500 participants made it to the final competition in Chelyabinsk. As a result, there were 102 winners, who were included in the list of reserve staff of the Rosseti,” said Head of Communications Policy and PR Department Dmitry Bobkov.
As a result of discussion, it was decided to work on organizing commercial tours to the fuel & energy facilities. Many companies noted a lot of public interest in touring energy facilities, while at the same time remarking on the difficulties in accessing such facilities. Simplifying tourist access to atomic power stations, hydro power stations, sub-stations, and other facilities, will promote transparency of the fuel & energy complex and will raise the number of comments in social media.
The outcome of the meeting was working out priority topics for media coverage of the fuel & energy complex in 2020. Such topics will include: external and internal challenges faced by the industry, objectives set by the President and the Government of the Russian Federation for modernizing the fuel & energy complex based on the use of up-to-date national technologies, innovation and digitalization; environmental and preservation activities, social lifts and education in fuel & energy industry.
