Made up of French-speaking Wallonia and Flemish Flanders, Belgium has two quite separate, and small-scale, media markets – or even three, counting the very small German-speaking region – which rarely compete. A small number of companies owned by a handful of prominent families with varied economic interests dominate the daily print media. The Belgian government administers the big regional radio and television broadcasters, RTBF and VRT, through their boards of directors, made up of representatives of the main political parties.

Despite the presence of political parties on the boards of RTBF and VRT, public broadcasting is, in principle, protected from political pressure. The French-language High Council for Broadcasting (CSA) and its Flemish counterpart, the VRM, reflect the various ideological tendencies and ensure that a diversity of viewpoints are expressed. 

Belgium does not have a comprehensive law on press rights. But the media do enjoy solid legal and constitutional guarantees. Source confidentiality has been protected by a federal law since 2005. And the National Ethics Council serves as an efficient self-regulatory body for the news media. However, defamation remains criminalised under Belgian law. In January 2019, a memorandum allowing judges to suppress or prohibit dissemination of media reports without having to give a reason sparked intense controversy. In 2023, a court imposed prior censorship on an investigative story by a Flemish media outlet about the former head of Vooruit, the Flemish socialist party. The decision was finally amended on appeal. 

Belgian media have been hit hard by a significant decrease in advertising revenue, now channelled toward online platforms, and by the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. These losses have been partially compensated by an increase in subscriptions. The dismissal of two journalists by the Walloon paper L’Avenir in 2018 raised the question of press susceptibility to economic pressure. They were fired after covering a financial scandal involving Nethys, a company that was then the biggest shareholder of the newspaper. 

The Belgian press overall enjoys a high level of public trust, especially in Flanders. Nevertheless, the Covid-19 pandemic shed light on the issue of disinformation and triggered criticism of the media, which were accused of covering the crisis from a pro-government perspective. In response to the growing distrust, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation adopted a media education plan in 2022 designed to promote a critical understanding of the media within the student population. 

Journalists covering protests, such as those against health measures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, have been subjected to intimidation and threats from demonstrators. They are also increasingly concerned about the threats with a racist or sexist cast that they often receive online. In this climate, some journalists have decided against covering certain events deemed to be too dangerous, and some have even quit the profession.