Ethics as the backbone of the professional identity of Belgian journalism interns

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes the perceptions of professional ethics expressed by Belgian – both Francophone and Flemish – journalism students after their first internships. 13 focus groups including 59 students from 7 universities were organized. These young journalists detailed how ethics play a central role in the development of their professional identity, during their first professional experience. Results show that both Flemish and French-speaking journalists share a relative homogenous vision of journalistic ethics. Eventually, this article offers the foundations for further research dedicated to the professional identity of young professional Belgian journalists, beyond any stereotypes or allegedly linguistic characteristics.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional ethics
• professional identity
• journalism education
• students
• internships
• focus groups

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 There are also three regional institutions that borrowed their name from the name of the territory they represent: the Flemish Region, the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region.

2 In French-speaking Belgium, 8 focus groups were organized in 2019 in the facilities of the 4 participating institutions : École de journalisme de Louvain (UCLouvain), Université de Liège (ULiege), Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Institut des Hautes Études des Communication Sociales (IHECS). Students from the Francophone universities have to complete internships at 2–3 media newsrooms during 4–12 weeks. In Dutch-speaking Belgium, 5 focus groups were organized, in 2021, with students from three institutions: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Universiteit Gent (UGent) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Flemish students do an (unpaid) internship of 6–10 weeks. Focus groups in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium were organized online, for two reasons. First, the corona safety measures in June 2021 did not allow a lot of physical group activities. Second, as some of the students had their internship still ongoing at the moment of the focus groups with divergent working circumstances and working places (at home or in the newsroom), an online meeting was more feasible for them. Because of the ‘Corona measures’ applicable at that time, Flemish students were also forced to work (mainly part-time only) from home and their (face-to-face) contacts with colleagues were sometimes reduced to a minimum, though with major differences between media. The pandemic also reduced the supply of internships, which meant that two students ended up in places different from the traditional newsrooms such as the press service of a non-profit organization and a political party.

3 https://www.rvdj.be/pagina/journalistieke-code

4 https://www.lecdj.be/fr/deontologie/code/

5 An Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe was established in 1999 in London, and the two Belgian media councils are current members. Since 2019, the Alliance has fostered research and reflection on the challenges facing media councils in the digital age, in a project funded by the EU DG CONNECT in collaboration with the European Federation of Journalists and several universities. This article is part of that initiative.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology: [grant number Connect/2019/1074575].

Notes on contributors

Marie Fierens

Marie Fierens, Researcher, ReSIC (Research Center for Information and Communication Sciences) and LaPIJ (Research laboratory on journalistic identities and practices), Université libre de Bruxelles. [email protected].

Hedwig de Smaele

Hedwig de Smaele, Associate professor, KU Leuven, Campus Brussel, Faculty of Arts. [email protected]. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4894-5161. Twitter: @hedwigds Linkedin: be.linkedin.com/pub/hedwig-de-smaele/7/169/249/

David Domingo

David Domingo, Chair of Journalism, Université libre de Bruxelles and co-coordinator of LaPIJ. [email protected]. Twitter: @dutopia

Florence Le Cam

Florence Le Cam, Chair of Journalism, Université libre de Bruxelles and co-coordinator of LaPIJ. [email protected].

Karin Raeymaeckers

Karin Raeymaeckers, Full Professor, Department of Communication Sciences, Ghent University and director of the research group Center for Journalism Studies. [email protected].

Martina Temmerman

Martina Temmerman, Associate professor, Programme director master's in journalism, Department of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Languages and Humanities, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. [email protected]

Florian Tixier

Florian Tixier, Associate professor at Institut de journalisme de Bordeaux Aquitaine, MICA, Université Bordeaux Montaigne and LaPIJ, Université libre de Bruxelles. [email protected].