The crisis of the Belgian state and the media

The daily De Morgen considers the role of the media in the current crisis of the Belgian state: "Standards of journalistic ethics do not have a Flemish, a Wallonian or a Dutch value but a universal one. Objective reporting of the facts is part of this. Many American media organisations abandoned this journalistic principle following 9/11, driven either by nationalistic motives or because they were afraid of being accused of anti-patriotism. ... Amid the turbulent political mood in Belgium there is a danger that both the Flemish and the Wallonian press will adopt precisely the same attitude as the American media did back then. ... The inherent danger here is that links will be forged between journalism and politics that compromise the press's role as a critical observer of political power. ... The deliberate use of superlatives, generalisations and exaggerations in order to win the readers' favour violate the central function of journalism."

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