Interesting debate on the opinion pages of De Morgen (DM). In view of the so-called Media States-General – a formal meeting with Flemish Media Minister Kris Peeters on March 19 to safeguard “the plurality and quality of the Flemish press” – former DM chief editor Paul Goossens makes a case for government support of newsmedia.
Summarizing, Goossens argues for regulating the appointment of chief editors by majority vote and for the installment of a ‘quality bonus’ to cover training courses and to rejuvenate investigative journalism, European journalism and the like. I for one, don’t think this is such a far-fetched idea. Other readers disagree, calling print media ‘no longer useful’, devoid of ‘added value’ and arguing for limiting the number of newspapers to ‘1 or 2′. A case of media flaming? Perhaps, but I am not looking forward to the day when there is no more professional journalism.
On a related note, Goossens’ opinion piece resonates with what pressformore.be is trying do: to save ‘cultural journalism’ – cultural reporting and criticism – from extinction. If you read Dutch, their analysis of the imminent death of critical cultural journalism bites.
Tom Van Hout 
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