Final Report Editor Ulrike Felt June 2003

Science and the media in Belgium 148
• The bi-monthly magazine “Autant savoir”, produced by the service of general
and political information, often deals with topical subjects related to scientific or
technological issues: environmental protection, technological risks, problems of
public health and food security, etc.
• The weekly magazine “Le jardin extraordinaire” (Wonderful garden) is one of
the most famous and ancient TV-magazines, broadcasted by RTBF1 on
Sunday evening, after the news. It is not only a programme on animals, but also
one that pursues explicit educative purposes and supports campaigns for
environmental protection and sustainable development. Scientists are often
invited to comment on the images (coming from RTBF’s own productions and
from programmes bought abroad). The audience on Sunday at prime time is
very high.
The concurrent private TV-chain RTL-TVi also introduced a new weekly science
programme, entitled “Tout s’explique” (All can be explained), co-produced with the
French channel M6 in 1999. It is a short programme (20 minutes), broadcasted each
Thursday at evening prime time (19:35). Unlike RTBF programmes, it is made of short
notices (eight themes of between 1 to 2 minutes each), based on images bought
externally with an in-house commentary. There is no own production. The team is
comprised of two full-time and one free-lance journalist. Live interviews featuring
scientists are rare and very brief. The programme uses “spectacular or fascinating
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images and news, aiming at create astonishing effects for the viewers”TP
PT.
As 95 % of Belgian households are connected to cable-TV and French channel
audience is very high in Belgium, the French-speaking TV-viewers now have access to
a wide range of scientific programmes of RTBF, RTL-TVi, FR2, FR3, TF1 and TV5 (the
French-speaking satellite channel). There is however no consolidated data about the
audience of scientific broadcasts among the Belgian population for any of the
programmes.
Dutch-speaking side
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Within the framework of the Action plan for science informationTP
PT, the production and
diffusion of three series of TV-broadcasts is supported by the Flemish government:
• Enter 21 is a series of short programmes (7 minutes) prepared for the network
of local cable-TV in Flanders. It relates to the impacts of technological
innovation on everyday life: telecommunication, transport, energy, materials,
production processes, biotechnology and medical technology. An evaluation
survey was ordered by the Action plan after the first round of broadcasting, in
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P
P Lits
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P
M. & al., op.cit.
P TUhttp://www.innovatie.vlaanderen.be/knapUT