The major consequence of the new economy would be the cut of job positions. The socialist union CGSP talks about 250 jobs at risk. « It is also an assault on the autonomy of the VRT. Some want to make it become a state media! », denounced Wies Descheemaeker (CGSP), calling for an immediate meeting with the Flemish Minister-President, Jan Jambon (N-VA).

Meanwhile, Paul Lembrechts met the new Flemish Minister of Media, the CD & V Benjamin Dalle. « Our first priority now is the budget up to 2020, but the decline in saving is soon to be felt. In order to catch it, and the way we function on this level, we have a plan », he writes.

This means, according to VRT spokesperson Bob Vermeir, that staff and supply will not be cut off next year. The 2016 economy plan is still running, including natural departures. « Temporarily, we can absorb the new economies, » he said. For the future, the VRT leadership calls for a dialogue with the Flemish government.

« After twelve years of savings, we are already an efficient public operator and we want to stay that way in order to strengthen Flanders, » says Bob Vermeir. The sluggishness that prevailed Friday in the corridors of the VRT, the announcement of these figures, goes well beyond the Boulevard Reyers, he observes. It also affects the creative sector, which indirectly benefits from the means of the VRT.

Minister Dalle, meanwhile, has not confirmed the figure of 40 million, which according to him is the result of a calculation internal to VRT. It refers to the upcoming budget arrangements and the preparation of the new management contract and promises a dialogue on how the efforts will be made. « It is clear that an efficiency exercise will also affect VRT, but we will prioritize non-replacements for retirements ».

In the opposition, sp.aa denounced a covert intention of the government, since 2014 already, to reduce VRT to a role of the small operator that would no longer be relevant in the audiovisual landscape, at the expense of listeners, viewers and internet users.

The post First effects of the newly formed Flemish government: 250 jobs at risk at the VRT appeared first on Brussels Express.

In the late 2000s a new of journalism emerged: data journalism. The roots of this form of journalism go back, in a certain way to 1854, when the English medical doctor John Snow wanted to know more about the origins of cholera. With his notebook, he moved around London and wrote down where new Cholera cases had arrived. When he found out that around water wells the number of cholera cases was extremely high, while around beer breweries it was extremely low, he could support the idea that this disease is linked to unclean water.

The democratization of programming languages (Python, R, JavaScript etc) allows journalists to crunch a massive amount of data to answer one question: what is the problem? Data is an image of reality put into numbers. To the bare eye, it is often hard to get the broader picture – but with the help of automation, one can extract undiscovered trends, shifts and changes.

The next step is then to visualize the result. This data visualization is in general working with little text – often even without it. Colors, shapes and maps are used – and often new ideas are born in data news rooms internationally.

What is needed to become a data journalist? Journalistic experience always helps, but advanced programming skills are essential – plus a sense of what is the most accurate method to visualize the analysis. The beauty of today is that everything one needs to perform is available via open-source on the internet.

It is standard practice that data journalists always upload and share their data – and the code they used – so everyone can replicate the research: that means transparent and accountable journalism.

If we are looking on the numbers, we see that data journalists are extremely rare – there are less than 300 worldwide, some 70 in Europe and only one in the EU bubble in Brussels: Ioannis Antypas. I had a drink with him on Place Luxembourg in Brussels and learned about data journalism through three stories he produced:

1. For Politico: The difference in lobbying spending in the old 15 EU countries and the new 13 ones
2. For Euronews: An analysis of the use of EU funds for the migration agreement with Turkey
3. For Deutsche Welle: An analysis of the stability of the Greek economy after the end of the last bail-out

As the European Commission is committed to transparency there is a wealth of data available but not yet effectively tapped into. Therefore it is quite probable that Ioannis Antypas will not remain too long the only data journalist in the Brussels EU bubble.

In the so called post-truth society we live in, where Europe is experiencing seismic events due to misinformation, a factual data-based approach is needed more than ever. Should more data journalists like Ioannis Antypas shift their attention to EU data reporting, then it would be possible to begin talking about a potential shift on how citizens are informed about the EU work and how it affects their lives.

The post Data journalism: understanding reality through numbers – only one data journalist in the EU bubble, Ioannis Antypas appeared first on Brussels Express.

“The role of media is crucial in our times,” said Dauren Abayev, Minister of Information of Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan. “The information delivered by media can trigger the escalation of a conflict, or it can promote its conciliation, provide insight over the issues at stake. We want to continue creating a space where the journalistic community from East and West can find a dialogue on how to best deliver information.”

After a few years of being held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, the Forum has returned to the city of Almaty, where it was first created. One of the conference’s aims is to have high level discussions on several critical subjects and the organizers have convened world leaders and decision makers such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Italy’s former Primer Minister, Matteo Renzi, Member of the House of Lords, Michael Dobbs, journalist and Member of the Italian Parliament, Deborah Bergamini, among many others. “During the Forum the world’s eyes are set on Kazakhstan and and for us it is of great symbolic significance that it takes place during the holy month of Ramadan,” said Dariga Nazarbayeva, Chairperson of the EAMF Organizing Committee. “It is a reminder of the values of forgiveness, honesty and self-examination, caring for others, that we want to foster in the world through these dialogues.”

During the first session, Evolutions of International Relations: Global Cooling, the topics discussed ranged from the rise of populism across the world and the civil war in Syria, to globalization and automation, the diplomacy challenges faced in Iran and North Korea. “We believe North Korea can see Kazakhstan as an example,” said Mr. Abdrakhmanov. “It is possible to give up nuclear aspirations, have a safer world, and at the same time become a prosperous nation.”

As for the challenges Europe is facing, namely the trust between the people and their political institutions, Matteo Renzi emphasized the need for a stronger will of the political elite to address the growing disconnect with the citizens. “The moment when I understood the situation in Europe was right after the Charlie Hebdo attacks,” he said. “In 2015, several politicians had come to Paris to express words of support and the cars were stuck amid the hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. It was symbolic to me because we politicians were nothing there. The real force was the people.”

Automation, artificial intelligence and globalization were mentioned as perpendicular factors affecting jobs, a shift in skills required in the marketplace, and the fears that could lead up to forms of nationalism and trade wars. “President Donald Trump resonates with a segment of the population because he’s promised people he could bring them back to the past,” Gary Locke, former US Ambassador to China said. “McKinsey estimates that in 12 years time, roughly 800 million jobs will be displaced due to automation. It’s not outsourcing, it’s not globalization or the undocumented migrants. It’s the advances on technology that are causing the changes in the job market. We need to face those facts instead of scapegoating people or countries just because it’s easier.”

Migration and the refugee influx remain high on the agenda and from different points of view across EU member states. “The decision by Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015 had a strong economic rationale,” said Sam Wilkin, Senior Advisor to Oxford Economics. “By 2021 Germany’s population on working age will not be enough to fulfill all the jobs required and the country will suffer an economic penalty. In Italy and Greece, however, the situation is different. There’s unemployment and so the perception among the people there will be different.”

Regarding the implications linked to Brexit, one of the concerns has become defense and security. “The UK’s and France’s armies are the largest ones in the EU so with UK leaving, the Commission’s latest budget proposal reveals an increase in military spending,” said Eli Hadzhieva, Director at Dialogue for Europe, an NGO and Think Tank in Brussels. Some worrying parallels could be drawn with the results in Italy’s recent elections. “Ten years ago, Italians were the most pro-European citizens,” said Deborah Begamini, Member of the Italian Parliament. “Now the situation has changed dramatically. Many people in Italy, specially young people are asking themselves: Where do we stand in Europe’s vision? What happened to our dreams?”

In the following session, From Facts to Fake News, one of the most active discussions revolved around the dissemination of fake news, how it can affect politics, business, and personal lives. “It is important to find out why fake news, in so many occasions spread like fire, they go viral, much more so than verified news. Why is that? We need to find the root, psychological cause,” said Harlem Desir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. “In Norway they have created an independent fact-checking entity called Faktisk. This is one of the first steps being taken at a national level to deal with these problems.”

Information delivery is being confronted with two opposing forces: Speed versus Accuracy. In the current information and technology-driven era, society as a whole has developed an urge for instant gratification where emails, messages, pictures, are expected to arrive every second. Speed appears to be winning the battle over accuracy. But for some specialists the issue ought to be looked with a different yet known perspective. “Some people put a lot of attention to what they eat. They want to know how much sugar, fat, gluten, there is in every food they buy,” said Roger Fisk, Political Strategist at New Day Strategy. “People should put the same level of attention to the information they consume. It’s of the same level of importance.”

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