PMA Update | 19 July
Public Media Alliance
Supporting our members to build and promote trust in public media worldwide.
???? Cordon sanitaire and the rise of the far-right: the Belgian experience
Some countries, such as Belgium, have installed a cordon sanitaire and a cordon médiatique in an effort to prevent the far-right from gaining influence.?Laura Jacobs from the University of Antwerp discusses?how effective and feasible such strategies actually are.
In Belgium, the far-right Vlaams Belang ?performed notably in the June elections, achieving its second-best result with 22.7 percent of the vote in Flanders. While Vlaams Belang did not surpass polling predictions that anticipated it becoming the largest party, it emerged as one of the election’s victors. However, an anticipated repeat of what some call “Black Sunday” did not occur.
That Sunday, in November 1991, marked a breakthrough for Vlaams Blok, Vlaams Belang’s predecessor, when it won 10 seats in the federal Chamber of Representatives, prompting other parties to adopt a formal political agreement to ostracise the far-right.
In Francophone Belgium, a cordon médiatique was installed too. This media commitment avoids giving a direct platform to parties that advocate racist or discriminatory views on gender or culture. It was founded by the public broadcaster RTBF, and later expanded to the whole Francophone media sector. Journalists strictly enforce this cordon. The cordon entails collectively limiting or avoiding coverage of the far-right, refraining from featuring interviews or inviting far-right leaders to TV studios for news shows, debates, or talk shows. Politicians in Francophone Belgium also adhere to this agreement, refraining from direct debates with far-right politicians and parties. In Flanders, a media cordon has never been able to gain ground.
Both types of cordons are integral to a ‘disengagement strategy’ designed to curtail the influence of the far-right in politics and society. But how effective are they?
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