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On 12 March 2009, The Vlaamse Raad voor de Journalistiek (Flemish Council for Journalism Ethics) issued a directive on the way the media (audiovisual, as well as print media and the internet) should deal with User Generated Content (UGC). 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 ensuring that journalistic ethics are upheld. It can also issue ethical directives and recommendations on its own initiative. Up until now, the Flemish Council has not been in the habit...

The decree of 5 February 2009 of the French-speaking Community amending the decree on broadcasting of 27 February 2003, the founding text for the audiovisual scene in the French-speaking Community - renamed the “decree on audiovisual media services” for the occasion - was published in the Moniteur Belge on 18 March 2009. This is of course the main text transposing the AVMS Directive for the French-speaking Community - it was transposed for the Flemish Community by a decree of 18 March 2009 (see IRIS 2009-5: 8). It should, however, be pointed out that the legislator for the French-speaking Community...

In a decision of 24 February 2009, the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media - monitoring and enforcement of media regulation) considered a complaint filed by the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest - a political party with an extreme right signature in the Flemish Community) against the VRT (Flemish public broadcaster). According to the Vlaams Belang , the latter violated its obligation of impartiality and non-discrimination by not inviting a representative of the Vlaams Belang to an information programme (“Panorama”). In this programme, twelve so-called “wise men”, from...

On 18 March 2009, the Flemish Parliament officially approved the text of the new media decree, which primarily aims at transposing the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2007/65/EC into regional law. Following this final approval, only publication in the Belgisch Staatsblad (Belgian Monitor), which is expected in a short time, is necessary so as to make the new Flemish decree legally binding. As the French Community also already adopted a decree in pursuance of Directive 2007/65/EC on 5 February 2009 (published in the Belgian Monitor on 18 March 2009), Belgium is proving itself to be one of the...

The Media Commission of the Flemish Parliament has accepted an important modification to the draft of the new Media Decree (see IRIS 2009-2: 8). In pursuance of the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the case of TV Vest SA and Rogaland Pensjonistparti v Norway (see IRIS 2009-3: 2), the Commission has approved a provision allowing paid political advertising on radio and television in pre-election time (Article 47). The provision’s viability, however, depends on a double condition: approval in the plenary session of the Flemish Parliament and modification of the federal law on election expenditure...