Most Flemish news media have their own editorial statutes, deontological codes, and newsroom council or ombudsperson (Journalistenloket, n.d.). In many cases, these are, of course, heavily influenced by or even identical to RvdJ’s above-mentioned code, and it is generally known and accepted that the official code has more “weight” than statutes or regulations per specific brand. This is also related to the fact that all news organisations have committed to adhering to the code and the rulings of the regional councils for journalism. When this self-regulatory body – consisting of representatives from journalists, publishers, and civil society – receives a complaint from a citizen and rules that unethical journalistic behaviour took place, the concerned news organisation commits itself to rectifying the mistake and publishing the ruling of the council on its news outlet.
The interviewees concluded independently that they all did their very best to report in a fair, balanced, and impartial manner with the limited resources and time they have at their disposal, and they conceded that sometimes having more time to check stories and contact sources could enhance the overall quality of their output. They are aware of the criticism of mainly right-wing politicians and civilians who accuse them of too often being too left-leaning in their tone and frames, but disagree with it regardless. Some did indicate it is a challenge to remain “in touch” with the entire audience, pointing to the fact that most journalists are highly educated, male, white, and so on. This too came with challenges in terms of reaching youngsters, less-educated people, and ethnic minorities (see Indicators E9 – Participation & E10 – Rules and practices on internal pluralism).
The journalists we interviewed failed to provide us with specific examples of instances of discussion regarding the output of themselves or their colleagues and interference by an ombudsperson or editorial statutes, even though they all admitted that there are occasional instances.
