Report :

FNF held during the period 30 May up to 6 June 2008 an international seminar in the town of Gummersbach in Germany about political communication. This seminar had participants from different 25 countries worldwide: Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, which was very enriching. The seminar communicated various experiences from different countries with respect to resolving liberal issues, political communication, and the application of democracy. The participants discussed for seven days, tens of intensive sessions, field visits, and profound discussions several issues including:

Liberal ideas extend to reach groups of believers and those interested to express liberal ideas spread worldwide. Large liberal parties are indeed interested in conducting workshops to support liberal ideas and strengthen the currents advocating these ideas.
FNF, which works closely with the German Liberal Party, invited twenty-seven liberal leaders from around the world to attend a workshop that discusses political communication among the elected leaders from such states. The workshop revealed the diversity of liberal experiences.

However, everybody agreed on a number of common factors:

First: the actual political communication with the masses is the guarantee for effective representation of leaders in the parties, parliaments, and local councils.

Second: the participation and support of the voters to the leaders, as well as holding them accountable is the other guarantee to the seriousness of political communication.


Third: the existence of fixed and time-limited visions and objectives with clear steps wherein the voters participate and are enabled of holding the leaders accountable upon failing.

Fourth: rosy dreams and phony promises are not acceptable, which means that there need be objective discussions with realistic and applicable ideas during the coming period.

Fifth: there must be movement among the masses in a careful manner and through effective groups that work within geographic and time frameworks to achieve communication with the people.

Finally, and most importantly, the party and parliamentary objectives must be formulated out of the needs and the desires of the people, because this alone can create credibility and build trust. The workshop that had extended for days and hours, and the field visits, which transferred new expertise political communication, which is serious, and capable of achieving the change that is hoped for and longed for by the people.

Mr. Nabil Rashwan also wrote a number of articles about this seminar published in the newspaper Nahdat Misr. The following are two of them:

On the Margin: Liberal Workshops

Liberal ideas expand to include believers and individuals seeking to express liberal ideas that have currency worldwide. Liberal political institutions seek to conduct workshops to support liberal ideas and strengthen the currents advocating such currents. FNF, which works closely with the German Liberal Party, invited twenty-seven liberal leaders from around the world to attend a workshop that discusses political communication among the elected leaders from such states. The workshop revealed the diversity of liberal experiences.

However, everybody agreed on a number of common factors:

First: the actual political communication with the masses is the guarantee for effective representation of leaders in the parties, parliaments, and local councils.

Second: the participation and support of the voters to the leaders, as well as holding them accountable is the other guarantee to the seriousness of political communication.

Third: the existence of fixed and time-limited visions and objectives with clear steps wherein the voters participate and are enabled of holding the leaders accountable upon failing.

Fourth: rosy dreams and phony promises are not acceptable, which means that there need be objective discussions with realistic and applicable ideas during the coming period.

Fifth: there must be movement among the masses in a careful manner and through effective groups that work within geographic and time frameworks to achieve communication with the people.

Finally, and most importantly, the party and parliamentary objectives must be formulated out of the needs and the desires of the people, because this alone can create credibility and build trust. The workshop that had extended for days and hours, and the field visits, which transferred new expertise political communication, which is serious, and capable of achieving the change that is hoped for and longed for by the people.

On the Margin: A Crisis of the Press

The paper and the magazine, in addition to the book, are considered mass media that are ever developing and changing in terms of form, content, and dissemination more than 500 years ago. However, the basic structure of papers and magazines has not changed despite the changes overcoming the media world. The press today, as much as it has been before, focuses on profound analyses, backgrounds, discussions, and evaluation of events. With the partial withdrawal of fixed ideological ideas in the German society and spread among the conservative Left and Right, the political orientations and affiliations have partially disappeared from the media world. The market of German papers features a large number of names and titles, as well as difference and diversity among the different regions. In Germany 336 local daily papers are issued, in addition to 11 nation-wide papers. There are ten papers of high quality, in addition to eight papers that belong to what is know as the commercial or “street” press. This last category includes the paper Bild-Zeitung (a picture paper) published by Axel Springer AG, with around four million copies sold a day, and is considered the only paper of its kind that plays a major role on the national level. The total number of German dailies nears 350 with a total of 23 million copies sold.

However, financing the daily papers is currently under pressure. The youth do not read much, and the ability of the papers to attract readers is becoming limited. Moreover, most of the information can be viewed on the Internet that had become the basic tool to most generations. Almost 55% of the Germans use the Internet, which is equivalent to 35.7 million individuals above 14 years. Nonetheless, the papers are sold at an average of one paper to each two adult citizens, which means that the readership is still large. Most of the papers are considered effective on the political and cultural life, including widespread national papers such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche, and the traditional weekly DIE ZEIT.

On another level, in addition to the popular magazines, there are specialized magazines. The total amount of published media reaches up to 20,000 titles with a total sum of 200 million copies. Among the most popular titles are those of the magazines Stern, Focus, and Spiegel, which is a vital part of the current dialogue in society, or sometimes the axis of this discussion. Stern could be the political weekly that enjoys that greater degree of long-term impact. Among the largest publication houses are Heinrich Bauer, Axel Springer, Burda, and Bertelsmann. Springer and Bertelsmann are at the same time two large media institutions that own successful radio and television stations with sales worth billions, and they are as well the focus of much debate about the handling by different mass media the same thinking and opinions.

Recently, the Internet had turned into a large competitor to the printed press. On the web there are more than 600 titles working independently or in cooperation with the existing press. Up to now, no acceptable form of cooperation is proposed, with some exceptions. Online papers reach a wide base of readers, such as Spiegel Online. Mobile phones and computer games are now about to become widespread mass media, capable of offering information and entertainment in a new way, ranging from commercial to fine media. In addition, communications and information technology turned into an economic sector of high importance to the job market, as it secures more than 1.7 million jobs. Had it not been for the care given to local papers, the German press would have entered into a bottleneck such as that witnessed in France, the United States, and others.