Voices & Sources in the news: the representation of Dutch- and French-speaking Belgium in Television and Print news

Researcher

Ellen Thorisaen (CJS)

Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Sarah Van Leuven (CJS) en prof. Dr. Catherine Bouko

The linguistic divide between the French- and Dutch-speaking communities in Belgium is a well-documented reality. The Belgian media landscape reflects this divide, with separate media ecosystems for each community. Both private broadcasters (VTM, RTL-TVI) and public broadcasters (VRT, RTBF) largely focus on their own regions, with limited coverage of the other community’s current affairs.

Keeping abreast of affairs in the other part of the country is limited and is mostly done via the media of one’s own community. The media often emphasize the differences and contrasts between the two communities and resort to stereotypes.

This research seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the role television news plays in shaping representations of the “other” community within Belgium. Specifically, the aim of this research is to identify the representation of the Flanders and French-speaking Belgium in television news broadcast (RTBF, RTL, VRT, VTM) and written news from 1993 to 2023. The research will be carried out using manual quantitative content analysis. The quantitative analysis will be supplemented by interviews with journalists regarding the production of news.