Newspapers refuse VB advert

16 May 2007

BRUSSELS – The Flemish newspapers have refused to print an advertisement from far-right anti-immigration party Vlaams Belang.

The party wanted an A4-sized advert published in the papers. The lawyer for party chairman Frank Vanhecke has sent a letter to the papers threatening to take the matter to court if they continue to refuse the advertisement.

Vanhecke has told the “the commercial editorial teams” that he will go to court if necessary to force them to print the advertisement. “We don’t want to fight a silly war with the media. The political advertisements fall outside of any editorial responsibility.” He wants the VB’s voters to be shown the same respect by the media as the voters of other parties.

The Belgian Association of Newspaper Publishers is not taking a standpoint in the matter. “Every publisher makes an independent decision,” it says. “The law allows publishers to refuse advertisements. Newspaper publishers are private businesses and are not required to give all democratically elected parties a voice, as the public broadcasting system must do,” the association says.

Subject: Belgian news