Search results : 237

On 21 September 2010, the Belgian Jury voor Ethische Praktijken inzake Reclame (Jury for Ethical Practices Concerning Advertising) issued a decision on a complaint, lodged by a member of the public, against the Flemish public broadcasting corporation VRT. The Jury is the self-regulatory authority of the advertising and marketing sector in Belgium (for more information, see IRIS 2010-1: 1/9). The VRT had produced and broadcast a television spot promoting the radio programme “All Areas”, which reports live from various music festivals for the public broadcaster’s youth station “Studio Brussel”. The...

Once again, the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media - monitoring and enforcement of media regulation) has rendered decisions relating to forbidden product placement. Although the two cases both present similar facts, only the first decision, against the commercial broadcaster VMMa, is explicitly grounded in the regulation on product placement. The second, against the public broadcasting corporation VRT, concerns a radio programme, hence the new regulation on product placement is not applicable in this case (see Article 98 of the new Flemish Media Decree). On 26 April...

The new rules for product placement are without doubt creating problems for public-sector broadcasters in Belgium. Following on from the two cases involving VRT (see IRIS 2010-5: 1/9 and IRIS 2010-7: 1/7), it is now the turn of RTBF to be ordered by the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory body - CSA) to pay a fine of EUR 10,000 and to broadcast a communiqué for having failed to observe the statutory provisions concerning product placement. In February 2010, to mark the Chinese New Year, RTBF broadcast a daily micro-programme devoted to Eastern cookery entitled “A table on...

The Vlaamse Raad voor de Journalistiek (Flemish Council for Journalism Ethics) has issued a directive (15 April 2010) on identification in a judicial context. This Council is an independent self-regulating institution that supervises journalistic work in all Flemish media upon the filing of a complaint by a member of the public, thereby guaranteeing that journalistic ethics are upheld. It can also issue ethical directives and recommendations on its own initiative. The new ethical directive is concerned with the way the media deal with suspects, persons convicted of a crime and victims in news coverage....

On 26 April 2010, the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media - monitoring and enforcement of media regulation) again addressed the public broadcasting corporation VRT for breach of the regulation on product placement. The violation once again occurred in the Sunday morning information programme ‘De Zevende Dag’ (freely translated, ‘The Seventh Day’) (see “Public Broadcaster, Shocking Images, and Product Placement”, see IRIS 2010-5: 1/9). A report focusing exclusively on the opening of the new restaurant ‘Kwint’ in Brussels and lasting approximately three minutes was broadcast...