In response to the disinformation campaign against Jacqueline Galant's reform, let's set the FACTS straight:
✓ Local news coverage will be STRENGTHENED: an obligation to cover the entire territory
+ €1.2M for decentralised newsrooms.
✓ No media outlet will be “closed”.
✓ The reform will only take effect in 2031, local media have 5 years to organise themselves.
✓ Budget preserved: €10M guaranteed (a reduction of less than 5%) while 5 out of 12 media outlets are currently running a deficit.
✓ Exemplary consultation: all media visited, meetings held in every province.
The reality? BX1 informs more than 1 million Brussels residents without any problem. Meanwhile, people in Namur want to keep 2 local media outlets for 505,000 inhabitants, while approving the merger in Hainaut with 1 outlet for 500,000 inhabitants?
The choice is clear: a reform that saves the sector, or a status quo that condemns it.
A. Context
For several months now, an organised disinformation campaign has targeted the local media reform led by Minister Jacqueline Galant. Given the bad faith shown by certain actors, it is urgent to set the facts straight.
1. Local news coverage will not disappear
Local news coverage will be strengthened, not eliminated. The reform protects and consolidates local news through two mechanisms:
- Recognised media outlets will be required to cover their entire territory.
- €1.2 million is dedicated to decentralised newsrooms to guarantee journalistic presence across the entire territory.
2. The Government is not “closing” any local media outlet
The Government is not closing any private structure (non-profit association). It is creating a lasting, transparent and sustainable framework that will only come into force in 2031, with 5 years of preparation. Media outlets that refuse this framework may explore other private funding sources, never tapped before.
3. Local media are not the main victims of budget cuts
Local media in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation live almost exclusively on public funding. The Federation allocates €10.5 million to finance the sector, with a guaranteed ceiling of €10 million until the end of the legislature, a reduction of less than 5%. This is neither a brutal cut nor a questioning of public support.
4. Exemplary consultation led by the Minister
- On-site visits to all media outlets across the territory.
- Plenary meetings and consultations by province.
- Numerous individual meetings.
- Integration of several recommendations from the sector.
5. Dysfunctional governance requiring rationalisation
Some boards of directors have more than 30 members. The reform sets a maximum of 12 board members (as at RTBF) and restores transparency by allowing mayors and aldermen to sit on boards without being able to chair them.
6. Too many local media outlets are in structural deficit
In 2024, 6 media outlets ran a deficit; in 2025, there are still 5, despite almost total public funding.
7. The ecosystem is doomed to fail if it does not consolidate
Faced with changes in the sector (digital, AI, new players), large groups are joining forces to survive. Local media must pool their strengths to secure their future.
8. The improvements gained through consolidation
- A move from 12 to 8 media outlets recognised by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (instead of the originally planned 6).
- Two media outlets maintained for the provinces of Hainaut and Liège.
- A budget of €1.2 million for merged structures wishing to maintain or create decentralised branches.
- Technical and legal support for mergers.
- An obligation for each media outlet to cover its entire territory.
- Administrative simplification.
- Maintenance of the Local Media Network.
B. Motivations for the reform and reminder of certain often-distorted facts
Phantom audiences and unverifiable figures
Local media refuse to publish their audience figures with the CIM. The sector mixes TV audiences, social media views and clicks to muddy the debate.
Contradictions that reveal bad faith
- Namur (505,000 inhabitants) “must keep 2 media outlets”, but the merger in Hainaut for 500,000 inhabitants is a “good idea”.
- BX1 informs more than a million Brussels residents without any problem.
The territorial argument does not hold up
Examples: a resident of Ixelles and one of Anderlecht, a resident of Gaume and one of the Ardennes already share the same media outlet without losing their identity.
Our reform brings structure, it does not impoverish
This reform consolidates the media ecosystem. Approved twice by the Government, it sets the reform that saves the sector against the status quo that condemns it.