Report :

When I thought about having to present a report covering my visit to Germany I was at a loss about what to write. Germany is a beautiful, clean, and organized country. Although this was not my first visit to Europe, still, truly Germany was the most appealing, especially the awesome city of Hamburg which we visited as part of the seminar, in itself very fruitful and influential on my way of thought.

The seminar was primarily workshop-oriented. The presentations were very brief, and most of the focus was placed on the discussions, questions, and group work, in order to deepen the understanding of the backgrounds of the various countries from which the participants come. The results of the group work would be presented in a plenary session, followed by discussion, so that the benefit would accrue to all. Indeed this was an ideal manner for managing the seminar, and I specifically liked the manner of time-management as well as the preference of discussions over any other method. 

The first part of the seminar comprised production projects for all the branches of the mass media. We were divided into groups of two or three participants from different countries, to guarantee variety. We were then divided thematically into radio, television, and press groups, provided that each participant joined a group from a different specialization, to gain more experience. We were provided with the requisite equipment, such as cameras and audio recorders. We worked in the city of Gummersbach to gather information and implement our projects. The idea was very exciting, particularly that it was executed for the first time this year. Despite the heavy rain, we made it, and we held several spontaneous interviews with the passersby. I believe that the projects were good, and we will always carry the memory of this useful seminar.

We also had several field visits to German mass media, met with German television reporters, the Deutsche Welle, as well as journalists from renowned papers, such as Der Spiegel, which was very useful in understanding the nature of the German media. The participants also visited the various departments of DW, and I was really interested in the Arabic section and to talk with the head who told me that they are about to conduct extended changes linking the radio, the television, and the internet, so that they would complement one another, instead of duplicating the work. I found this a brilliant idea, and I hope that the Egyptian TV can adopt it in the future. We also visited the general German television, and I remember that most of the discussions I had with the people were more concerned with the relationship between the German government and the television, and how this differed from the situation of the Egyptian television, in terms of content, management, and the laws.
Among the various presentations was that concerning international security, with a special focus on the role of the media in conflict and dispute resolution, which inspired a research for me in this regard. I remember also an open discussion about liberalism in the modern age especially in light of the global economic crisis and the threats this crisis poses for liberalism.

I was most impressed by the manner for session management, the creative ways with which every group presented the results of the group work, such as caricatures, simplified drawings, posters, etc. Moreover, the discussions reflected the profound understanding by the participants of the situation in their respective countries, and that ultimately we are all sharing common grounds; despite the fact that we are separated by distance, we almost share similar problems.

The last day of the seminar comprised the overall evaluation of the seminar and a statement of the knowledge and experience gained by the participants that can be of help when they return to their work and their country. Indeed, the amount of ideas proposed by the participants was very rich and promising.

I was very cheerless at the last day. However, the promise of future communication mitigated this, especially that almost all of the participants are now members of a discussion forum on the Academy site, on which several topics are proposed, and through which I can get to know updates about other countries, and exchange advice and ideas, the key for change.