Coverage of the hunger strike

A group of asylum seekers in Brussels has been on a hunger strike for more than 70 days now, but the Flemish media has virtually ceased covering the situation, the daily De Standaard notes: "The different public spheres in the North and South of our country react differently to the debate over asylum seekers. The hunger strikers are occupying churches in a community in the Brussels district. For the average Flemish citizen this is all happening too far away. The Francophone media ... have kept up continuous coverage of the asylum debate. ... The media is increasingly becoming a mirror in which readers want to see themselves. The Francophone reality in Brussels presents a stark contrast to that in Flanders. No identification ergo no media coverage - this is the brutal logic of the media. Anything that is happening in our immediate vicinity has major news value - the rest less so."

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