This is not journalism
Following the publication of the article « Complotistes, extrême droite et adeptes de théories pédocriminelles : voici le réseau des désinformateurs sur l’Evras en Belgique » (Conspiracy theorists, the far right and followers of paedocriminal theories: here is the network of disinformers on EVRAS in Belgium), Bernard Crutzen turns the RTBF’s own game against it.
One can hold all sorts of opinions on emotional and sexual education at school. My aim here is not to give mine. On the other hand, I have a certain idea of what journalism should be. I note, wearily, that the RTBF falls far short of it with the linked article[1]. The public broadcaster, chained to the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which voted the decree on EVRAS, does nothing but defend the government’s position, reducing sceptics and opponents to a gang of extremists. Does that remind you of anything? It is what the RTBF also did during Covid. No room for contradiction or nuance, not even for questioning. Just a hunt for dissidents and “fake news”, some of which ultimately turned out to be true.
The authors of the “RTBF Décrypte” article did not interview a single one of the people they cite, a basic rule of journalistic ethics if one wishes to claim a minimum of objectivity. Not even the child psychiatrist Frédéric Goaréguer, about whom they simply recall that he will be judged by the Hainaut Medical Council for his criticism of the handling of the health crisis. His photo is prominently displayed next to certain personalities with whom he has probably never had any contact. The article is illustrated by an interactive tree weaving links between different people, while the authors admit in the text that “not all of them know each other”.
By presenting a network, the authors insinuate that there is a conspiracy against EVRAS. As the psychologist Olivier Klein wrote about my film Ceci n’est pas un complot (This is not a conspiracy)[2], “the aim is to feed doubt, and everyone can let their imagination run to build the most plausible scenario, to connect the dots.” That is precisely what this article does.
If the RTBF starts producing “conspiracist” content, there really will be no one left doing journalism...
Bernard Crutzen, film-maker
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of BAM!
Introduction by BAM!
[1] Complotistes, extrême droite et adeptes de théories pédocriminelles : voici le réseau des désinformateurs sur l’Evras en Belgique - rtbf.be
