Belgian public broadcaster RTBF made an editorial decision to delay the live broadcast of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech on Monday amid concerns that it could incite hatred.
The practice, which RTBF refers to as a “cordon sanitaire médiatique,” is typically reserved for what the channel deems to be far-right extremists.
During a special edition covering the event, journalist Nathalie Maleux announced the delay on TV5Monde, emphasizing that the speech would not be broadcast in real-time, as reported by SudInfo.
Aurélie Didier, deputy editorial director of information at RTBF, elaborated on the reasoning behind the decision. “We have noted on several occasions that Donald Trump has made racist, far-right, xenophobic, and incitement to hatred remarks. We decided to broadcast his speech with a slight delay to take the time to analyze it. This is a practice that we have already applied for many years at RTBF, in French-speaking Belgium. It allows us to avoid trivializing such comments, to normalize them.”
The deputy director insisted the move was about analyzing the speech before deciding whether viewers could hear it, and not about media censorship. “This is not about censorship, RTBF does not do censorship.”
Didier further defended RTBF’s editorial stance, emphasizing their commitment to balanced reporting. “We do impartial work. We highlight Donald Trump’s strengths, but at the same time, we frame his remarks because we believe it is necessary. RTBF is not pro or anti-Trump,” she claimed.
The broadcaster justified categorizing Trump as far-right based on an analysis of his past statements by several “experts” who she did not name. “They agreed on several elements, particularly regarding racism, since Donald Trump suggested that migrants ate dogs and cats. He also refused to recognize the results of the last presidential election, which questions the American democratic system. Additionally, he has regularly made misogynistic remarks against women. All of this led us to the decision not to broadcast his speech live,” she said.
The decision has sparked controversy, particularly in Belgian political circles. Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the liberal Reformist Movement (MR) affiliated with the left-wing Renew Europe party in the European Parliament, took to X on Tuesday to express his discontent.
“There is a real problem at RTBF. Who are these experts who determine good and evil? We may not agree with the plans of the new president of the United States, but nothing can justify a democratically elected president receiving this treatment from petty thought leaders.”
Other French-language news outlets in Belgium also criticized the move with SudInfo’s deputy editor-in-chief Gaspard Grosjean writing in an op-ed, “It is through this type of thing that the very strong distrust towards the media in particular could be reinforced, with people believing that we are trying to manipulate them, to influence their opinion or their way of thinking.
“However, the media are there to report information, decode it, verify it, analyze it, and provide reading keys to help people form their own opinions without imposing anything on them,” he added.
