Office of Public Affairs (2020 Presidential transition)
| Book 3 - Organization Overview
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| Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020 |
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) mission is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. The Office of Public Affairs supports this mission by communicating these priorities to the public.
Mission Statement
The Office of Public Affairs (PA) is the principal point of contact for the Department of Energy with the news media and general public.
PA is responsible for ensuring that the public is informed about the Department’s activities as well as the priorities and policies of the Secretary and the President with regard to energy policy, nuclear security, and scientific discovery.
PA advises the Secretary and other Department officials on all aspects of media relations, digital outreach, and communications opportunities. The Office also helps guide and produce remarks and public statements for the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and senior leadership. The Office manages both the technical and editorial aspects of Energy.gov, the Department’s public facing web platform, and administers all top-level DOE-branded social media accounts.
PA advises Department leadership on digital communications best practices and provides digital service to the public.
PA prepares and issues Department press releases and media advisories and serves reporters assigned to the Department by responding to inquiries, arranging interviews, and conducting news conferences. The Office also coordinates the public affairs units of all Department organizations and coordinates and advises the communications staffs of the 17 National Laboratories. The Office ensures that information provided to the news media by the Department is current, complete, and accurate
Budget
| Fiscal Year | Budget |
| FY 2019 enacted | $6,594,000 |
| FY 2020 enacted | $4,000,000 |
| FY 2021 request | $5,954,000 |
Human Resources
FY 2020 authorized full-time equivalents (FTEs): 30
Functions
Strategic Communications
The Office of Public Affairs strategic communicators develop communications plans that tell the story of the Department of Energy and National Laboratories while promoting the Administration’s energy policy goals.
Strategic Communications looks ahead to the next 3 – 6 months to identify proactive opportunities to drive a positive and accurate narrative for DOE offices and the Administration.
This includes:
- Integrating holistic communications that advance DOE priorities across all communications channels.
- Balancing program office priorities and announcements within both the Department and broader D.C., national, and global energy market news cycles.
- Supporting all engagements for the Secretary, the Deputy Secretary, and other key leaders – determining the strategic objectives and leading the planning process to ensure alignment on key themes, priority audiences, and tactics (e.g., media outreach, editorial boards, op-eds, planned remarks, digital updates, social media amplification, etc.), and tracking all deliverable.
- Working on emerging and breaking issues.
- Launching major announcements and reports.
- Coordinating with other departments and partners in the Administration.
- Leading special projects (e.g., STEM Rising, Direct Current podcast, etc., as detailed below).
- Aligning external communications objectives with internal communications efforts in order to inform and energize DOE staff.
Speechwriting
The Office of Public Affairs speechwriters develop all written material, including, speeches, talking points, blog posts, responses to Q&A’s, and opinion pieces for senior departmental leadership.
Digital Communications
The Office of Public Affairs digital team supports the technical maintenance of Energy.gov, the Department of Energy’s primary public-facing website, and the creation of multimedia and social media content for the general public that tells the story of the Department – WHO we are, WHAT we do, and WHY it matters.
Media Affairs
The Office of Public Affairs media affairs team is responsible for managing all media relations efforts across the DOE enterprise. This includes all engagement within the Department’s program offices as well as DOE’s laboratories, plants, and sites.
Recent Organization Accomplishments
Communications Accomplishments
In 2020, 130 speeches to date have been delivered and over 570 in the past four years. The Speechwriting team works closely with the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Undersecretaries, and department senior staff to craft speeches and op-eds that further the communications and policy goals of DOE.
In 2020, 27 opinion pieces have been written and placed around the country to date.
PA developed DOE accomplishment snapshot documents and crafted and designed the Nuclear Fuel Working Group report and multiple Department-wide policy rollouts.
Digital Accomplishments
Social Media: In 2019, PA rolled out the implementation of Sprout Social for social media management across the enterprise, including several of our National Labs. Today, we have 100 active profiles in Sprout with 135 employees using the service across 33 unique groups. This product allows DOE to collaborate and streamline Department/Lab-wide messaging. (See DOE’s Year in Digital for 2020 below).
| DOE’S YEAR IN DIGITAL FOR 2020 (JAN. 1 – SEPT. 23). | ||||||
| Engagements | Over 3 million engagements combined on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. | |||||
| Engagements per channel | Twitter: 1.80 million engagements | Facebook: 1.07 million engagements | Instagram: 35,530 engagements | LinkedIn: 180,322 engagements | ||
| Follower Growth 2019 – 2020 | Twitter: 1,146,054 +5.4 % | Facebook: 362,645 +2.7 % | Instagram: 101,146 +10.43 % | LinkedIn: 127, 434 +38 % | ||
| Operations | Improvements to the day-to-day operations of Energy.gov include:
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| Content | Continue developing informative content and promoting the Department through various brands/ channels, including:
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Media Affairs Accomplishments
The Office of Public Affairs media affairs team issues approximately 300 releases on average each year. As of September 2020, 198 press releases have been issued to date.
PA media affairs also handles booking and staffing principal interviews. In 2020, there have been an average of 50 interviews a month conducted by DOE principals, including the Secretary, the Deputy Secretary, Under Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries.
PA media affairs generated earned media for each of the accomplishments laid out in this report over the course of the Administration.
Leadership Challenges
PA is an extremely fast-paced working environment, and leadership will need to ensure adequate staffing quickly in order to maintain the pace. The Department’s National Laboratories are spread throughout the country and have their own communications staffs. Ensuring coordination with the Labs and across the enterprise generally is critical to the overarching public affairs strategy.
Critical Events and Action Items
DOE Budget Rollout
PA will be responsible for coordinating with the Offices of the Chief Financial Officer and the Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs on the public rollout of the Department’s proposed budget.
CERA Week 2021
PA will play a major role in supporting CERA Week 2021, the largest international energy conference which takes place in Houston, Texas, annually. [1]
Links
Internal
Department of Energy: Transitions 2020-organization overviews table of contents
External
References
- ↑ DOE. (2021). Transitions 2020: Organization Overviews. US Department of Energy.
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