Search results : 237

It is sometimes forgotten than Belgium’s complex institutional organisational structure in respect of audiovisual matters is not made up only of the country’s three linguistic communities (the French-, Flemish- and German-speaking sections of the population). A few areas of responsibility have been retained by the federal (that is to say, national) authorities; these include audiovisual matters in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital - an area that is home to nearly 1.2 million people; Brussel’s French- and Flemish-speaking communities do have some responsibilities, but only with regard to...

In May and June 2016, the General Chamber of the Flemish Media Regulator issued six decisions that relate to the provisions in the Flemish Media Decree on sponsorship. In five cases the Chamber concluded that an infringement had occurred (for previous decisions, see IRIS 2015-6/6). Four of those five cases concerned a violation of Article 2 (41) of the Flemish Media Decree which contains the definition of sponsorship (“every contribution by a public or private company, the authorities, or a natural person not engaged in providing broadcasting services or producing audiovisual or audio works, to...

Two self-regulatory bodies, the Raad voor de Journalistiek (Flemish Council for Journalism) and the Jury voor Ethische Praktijken inzake reclame (Belgian Jury for Ethical Practices in Advertising) have reported on their 2015 activities and functioning. The Flemish Council for Journalism opened 49 new files; 48 based on complaints (a 22% decrese from 2014), and one based on a request for advice. 23 complaints concerned daily newspapers, seven were aimed at weekly papers and magazines, seven involved television, two radio, and 19 complaints also related to websites. The latter is an increase from...

On 29 April 2016, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal against a judgment of the Court of Appeal of Liège (25 September 2014) which found that a doctor could request the anonymisation of an article in the online archive of a newspaper. The article concerned a fatal car accident which the doctor had caused 20 years ago while inebriated (for a Dutch case on online news archives, see IRIS 2015-6/27). The Court of Cassation confirmed the reasoning that the “digital” right to be forgotten (le droit à l’oubli numérique) is an intrinsic component of the right to privacy. In its assessment of the...

The Code of Journalistic Ethics, drafted by the Flemish Council of Journalism, contains 27 articles. Particular articles are accompanied by a guideline which provides more information on the way a certain principle must be interpreted and implemented by the press. In December 2015, a new guideline was adopted to clarify Article 15, which states that journalists must use certain methods to gather or process information, photos, images and documents, and that journalists must not abuse their capacity, especially vis-à-vis vulnerable individuals such as minors, and victims of crime, disasters or accidents...