The « authorized editors » or how to prevent certain questions from reaching their ears…

The « work » of the media is summarized in a long enumeration of the dead, the intubated, the coffins that pile up in Lombardy. Proselytes of anguish, they are above all the architects of the confinement of thought. No critical distance on what is happening, no reflection on the world that produced this. 40,000 people have died worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic; each year 7 million deaths worldwide are attributed to air pollution… do you see our governments panicking? Certainly, the car, pesticides and airplanes are growth. And it doesn’t stop. 

However, in the daily Le Soir (like the other megaphones of the system), on April 1, behind the curtain of Covid-19, you can feel who is in charge:  » Proximus puts the turbo on the fiber and gives a foretaste of 5G  » (p.17). But also an interview with Etienne Davignon (p.11), former Vice-President of the European Commission, who  » « will formalize » the community’s merger with the business community . »⁽¹⁾one of the founders and director of the powerful lobby that is the Industrialists’ Round Table, former President of the Société Générale de Belgique, and so on: the architect of the disaster who will now tell us « how to get out of it ». 

The same recipes for the same poisoning. The sorcerer’s apprentices who are going to give us the remedies for the ills they have created. Which proposes in particular  » a European plan for the survival of the airline sector, which has been an engine of economic growth in recent years . For us, economic growth is synonymous with death, and the coronary episode proves once again that we do not need airplanes to live. Finally, will you be able to do without the next city-trip to Milan or the all-inclusive week in Thailand, without feeling like you’re « losing » something? We are also part of the problem. 

So we asked the Ministry of Information of Sophie Wilmès to be able to attend the next press conference, which will certainly announce the extension of our confinement. 

This is the resulting exchange. We’re waiting for the rest. 

Subject: Press conference S. Wilmès

From: Alexandre Penasse <info@kairospresse.be>
Sent: Monday 30 March 2020 16:04
To: Detry Steve <Steve.Detry@premier.fed.be>
Subject: Press conference S. Wilmès

Hello, 

As a journalist, I would like to attend the next government press conferences to be held. Could you please tell me the steps to follow? 

Thanking you in advance. 

Sincerely,

Alexandre Penasse

Accredited Journalist (F08882)

Hello,

Due to the strict guidelines related to the Coronavirus, access to the press room is strictly limited to certain newsrooms in a pool.

You can nevertheless follow the press conferences in streaming on our official websites. 

This configuration will be re-evaluated when the social distancing will be lifted.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,

Steve

Steve DETRY

Spokesperson — Woordvoerder — Sprecher

Spokesman

Hello,

Thank you for your answer. 

What do you mean by « some of the pool editors ». Could we know them to let people know who follow us which are the authorized redactions? 

Being part of another type of media than the conventional, it would be interesting to be able to go to these press conferences. Especially since the « social distancing » does not justify that some media have a free pass and no others. On what criteria do you make the distinction? 

Sincerely,

Alexandre Penasse

Hello,

Physical access is allowed to editorial offices that are listed by the General Association of Journalists Professionals from Belgium. These are organized to form pools between them. It goes smoothly.

That being said, all press conferences and their content are accessible to everyone, in their entirety, in live streaming. 

Yours sincerely,

Steve DETRY

Spokesperson — Woordvoerder — Sprecher

Spokesman

Hello,

I am recognized as a professional journalist (F07882) and the newspaper I am Editor-in-Chief (Kairos) registered as a periodical press with the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. I don’t see what would prevent us from sending one of our journalists to a conference government press release? 

I just took contact the AJP, of which I am of course a member, in order to know my rights. 

Sincerely,

Alexandre Penasse