TVBRICS – On Thursday, 6 July, the participants of the BRICS Global Media Tour Russian Edition. were present at the ceremony of announcing the names of the laureates of the Global Energy Prize 2023 which was held in Kemerovo.
TV BRICS and the Global Energy Association have been partners for several years. As part of this cooperation, information about the award winners is posted not only on TV BRICS’ own platforms, but is also made available to the national media audience in the BRICS countries which are partners of the network. “Global Energy” is an event of international scale and high expert level, which is traditionally hosted by Russia.
Daria Ivankova Director of TV BRICS International Cooperation Department told the audience about the goals of the media tour.
“This year, TV BRICS and Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Support Fund organized a special media tour to Russia for the heads and leading journalists of the editorial offices of Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Our aim was not just to show contemporary Russia from the example of one capital, we wanted to show the regions. We thought a lot about what event would be central in the foreign journalists’ tour to Russia, what event would arouse press interest, demonstrate the Russian approach to organising events on an international scale, and raise a topic that would unite all the countries of the world. This central event was the Global Energy ceremony and a visit to the famous region – Kuzbass,” she said.
She added that science diplomacy and media diplomacy, together, can promote the advancement of modern research, exchange of experiences, exchange of experience, rapprochement of scientific communities of different states of the world, and countries in general.
Zhang Tianxiang CEO of China.com, said it was a great honour for him to participate in the ceremony to announce the names of the 2023 Global Energy Prize laureates. He also praised the ecology of the Kemerovo region.
“When I came to Kuzbass, I was really impressed by the good air quality and environmental conditions of this region. Man needs to find a balance between economic development and environmental protection, and I hope that the relevant Russian experts can share their experience and relevant technologies with their Chinese counterparts.”
Earlier in the same day, delegates of the BRICS Global Media Tour. Russian Edition were given a tour of the Krasnaya Gorka museum, the memorial to the Miners of Kuzbass and the monument to Nikolai Masalov, a warrior-liberator from Kemerovo region who saved a girl during the storming of Berlin.
Albert Mirirayi Chekayi, director of the news service ZBC News, described the story of the warrior-liberator Masalov as amazing.
“We have read about how the Soviet Union liberated the world during the Great War, how their soldiers marched from Stalingrad to Berlin liberating Europe. The story of Masalov, of how he even rescued the German child in the middle of the battle in Berlin is amazing. We owe our liberation also to the Russian Federation. Our men were trained in the Soviet to come back home and fight the British settlers who had colonized our land. So when I look at the warrior-liberator stage of Masalov, it also tells our own history as well. The monument is 38 metres high. When you look at these piece of art, those who designed it, you realise that it is a great monument,” said Chekayi.
Durgesh Singh Bhadauria, Senior producer of Asian News International (ANI), shared his impressions of the monument he saw.
“Generally the story of war and war memorials encapsulate the idea of heroism, the idea of bravery. But at this particular site I saw that there is another important aspect associated with war and people’s stories, and that is humanity. Masalov was a hero, not only for his country, his people. He was also a hero for humanity, for the entire world, for he saved a young girl who was in the middle of the war, and he went against all odds to save the girl. It was a perfect story of warrior that we should perpetuate.”
Nyana Molete, editor-in-chief of BRICS Africa Channel, learned about the possibility of mining coal with care for the environment: “What impressed me about what I saw here, was the process of mining the coal and how clean that process is, because I associated coal with environmental degradation. But when I got here, I saw coal being mined in a clean way. I saw trees being planted and the environment being restored after coal mining. So I was very impressed by that. I also learned a bit about the history of this area, a bit of the history of Siberia, the culture of the people here. And I also didn’t realize that the mining industry here was developed through the help or through the cooperation of people from outside of Russia. That people from other parts of the world came here in the early 18th century to help develop the mining industry and the economy.”
The participants of the media tour were also invited to a press conference of Sergey Tsivilyov, Governor of Kuzbass.
“When we came to Kuzbass, we came here without any knowledge, all we knew from the newspapers was that this is a coal city. But then we learnt that the way the coal has been processed and produced is a very clean and green way. And then they showed us on the plants, on the museums and every site we visited, we got to know that there is a process to treat the coal in a way that it comes up friendly for the environment. We had opportunity to hear from the governor the global description of the development of this city,” said Sergio Marcos Beatriz Chitsembe, board member and TVM journalist from Mozambique.
The governor said that the region has everything it needs to develop local industry. There is no need to bring in machinery from abroad any more, as the region has its own equipment. Moreover, the region is ready to export its products. The process took a long time and now Kuzbass has a strategic plan for the next 50 years. During that time, according to the governor, Kuzbass will set an example to the world of how to properly handle coal so that it becomes a clean source of energy for building green cities like Kemerovo.
“I didn’t know much about Siberia. Here I discovered that it is probably one of the most developed places in Russia. It may also be one of the most developed for our civilisation. The history of coal mining in the region is an epic one, it has managed to develop the largest coal mining industry in the world. And today it is an environmentally responsible industry that cares about the environment,” Luiz Augusto de Freitas Erthal, editor-in-chief of Toda Palavra said.
Marcio Campos Dias, editor-in-chief of the Brazilian channel Terra Viva summed up the first part of the media tour.
“For me, spending those three days in Siberia together with TV BRICS was a really impressive and unforgettable experience. The media network gives us the opportunity to come together in search of honest journalism, searching for the truth. Our work is about responsibility, ethics, we have to bring more real information to the viewer, to the public, to the reader, anywhere in the world through the media, including digital technologies.”
The visit to the monument “In Memory of Kuzbass Miners” and the monument to Masalov took place as part of the activities timed to coincide with this year’s Global Energy Prize in Kemerovo.
BRICS Global Media Tour. Russian Edition is organized by BRICS-Media Association in cooperation with TV BRICS, with a grant provided by the suport of Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund.
Among the participants of the BRICS Global Media Tour. Russian Edition are top managers of media companies, partners of TV BRICS from Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, representing different types of media: public and private TV stations, radio, news agencies of national and regional levels.
