|
Helsinki Edition
October 1998
About Us
Index
News
Features
Focus: Europe
Columns
Letters to the Editor
Editorial
Links
Archive |
One language, two different pens
One language zone, two countries, two cultures. The Dutch and most people in Belgium speak the same language, but practice totally different kinds of journalism. According to specialist on this field Dirk-Jan Eppink this results in Dirk-Jan Eppink is someone who knows all the ins and outs of the newspaper scene in both countries. For four years he worked as a parliamentary reporter for NRC Handelsblad, a Dutch quality paper. The past three years he has been doing the same job for the Belgian newspaper De Standaard. In April of this year Eppink published'Vreemde Buren' (strange neighbours) about the Dutch and the Belgian media. He spends a chapter on the journalistic differences between the two nations. ''Very important is the fact the ontzuiling (society is no longer under the control or influence of religion-MK) in The Netherlands happened in the seventies, in Belgium this only happened twenty years later. Therefore the Belgian newspapers have been tied to a political perspective for much longer.'' In his opinion the Belgian newspapers have already loosened those political ties, but the former political tone of the paper still is more significant than in the neighbouring country.
In Belgium there are three national languages; Dutch, French and German (a very small percentage). This results in some newspapers being published in two languages, which means the circulations and newspaper staffs are small. Eppink: ''Because the papers in Holland have more capacity, the opportunities to practice investigative journalism are much bigger. In Belgium big conclusions are being drawn out of little research. One day an issue can be presented with huge headlines, the following day it is possible the whole story appears to be untrue. Of course there are a lot of scandals in Belgium at the moment, but it seems even more because of this way of operating.''
There are, contrary to in Holland, also hardly any entirely national papers in Belgium. Most of the papers have a regional edition. This is, according to Eppink, a reason why Belgian newspapers pay more attention to items like accidents and crime. ''Here, journalism is strongly focused on regions. Therefore the interest in issues like accidents. These things are presented in great detail, with big photographs. Maybe this is because the Belgians are much more emotional, more temperamental. The Dutch approach journalism in a more factual and less emotional way.'' Eppink thinks this is also one of the reasons the Belgian media print the names of victims and suspects in crimes and accidents. ''In Holland they are much more unwilling to do this.''
Manon Kotvis |
