Belgium has dropped eight places in the annual press freedom rankings, published on Wednesday by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), landing in 31st place, down from 23rd last year.
The organisation notes that, while Belgian journalists enjoy a “relatively high” level of trust, they face violence from police and protesters during rallies, as was the case with one journalist who was laughed at by police and temporarily arrested when reporting on the disturbances on the streets of Brussels following several Morocco World Cup games in December last year.
"Journalists covering demonstrations were subjected to intimidation and threats by protesters, while police violence, along with online threats with a racist or sexist cast, have led to a sense of lack of safety among journalists," the 2023 country report on Belgium read.
"In this climate, some of them decided against covering certain events deemed to be too dangerous. And some journalists even quit the profession."
RSF also pointed to the online threats that journalists in Belgium have experienced, which are aimed mainly at women.
It recognised that Belgium's media enjoy solid legal and constitutional guarantees, pointing out that source confidentiality has been protected by Federal law since 2005, however, some provisions remain controversial, such as the fact that defamation remains criminalised under Belgian law, and the journalist is the only party required to face the justice system if a case goes to trial.
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In the ranking, Norway has retained the highest position, while North Korea occupies the last place (180th). The biggest declines have been seen in Peru (110th, -33 places), Senegal (104th, -31 places), Haiti (99th, -29) or Tunisia (121st, -27). Within the EU, Greece retained its position as the lowest ranked Member State, dropping by one to 107th.
According to the 2023 edition, conditions for practising journalism are poor in seven out of 10 countries. Encouragingly, 52 out of 180 countries have “good” or “reasonably good” conditions. That’s four more than in 2022, a figure not seen since 2016.
