“Politics at first hand” – launch of the Media Academy

The Media Academy, a new training platform of the FPÖ Education Institute, was launched on 16 May 2019. Under the motto “Politics at first hand” the participants, who had travelled from all federal states, met at the beginning of the course in the parliament in Vienna, where they were welcomed by fraction director Norbert Nemeth and the head of the FPÖ Education Institute Klaus Nittmann.

Norbert Nemeth explained that the importance of the media was undisputed, as was the importance of communication in politics. It requires strong awareness of the relationship between media and politics, and a reflective approach to one another. In this sense he welcomes the new Media Academy of the FPÖ Education Institute, which offers well-founded training for media officers in politics.

Klaus Nittmann referred to the content of the course he initiated, which deals with political public relations, professional media work, digital communication and media law, the path into the public sphere and which instruments are necessary for this. The saying “What is not in the media did not happen” is well known.

The participants then attended a plenary session of the National Council to experience “politics at first hand”. Before heading from the Parliament to the seminar rooms, a reception was held in the office of the Third President of the National Council, Anneliese Kitzmüller. Kitzmüller congratulated the participants on their commitment and also stressed that the interplay between politics and the media required professionalism at the highest level.

The Media Academy is provided by the FPÖ Education Institute, Society for Politics, Culture and Freedom of Speech as a course for those interested in this field, and takes place in five continuing-education modules in Vienna.