© BELGIUM
The Flemish Association of Journalists (VVJ) has immediately ended its collaboration with Pol Deltour. Deltour had worked for the Flemish professional association for journalists since October 1998.
Source: Belga, own reporting Yesterday at 10:43 PM
“The VVJ thanks Pol Deltour for his many years of inspiring commitment to the professional association. His contributions to journalism and press freedom in Flanders and Belgium can hardly be overestimated,” says general secretary Charlotte Michils.
Michils succeeded Deltour as general secretary on September 1, 2023 and says he has learned a lot from him. She does not want to elaborate on the dismissal itself.
Deltour himself was willing to comment. “Let me say that there was too great a difference in visions and characters. The working atmosphere was so bad that it was still difficult to work together. I don’t want to go into detail about that, but apparently a choice had to be made despite several attempts by me to consult with everyone. But people thought it was already too late for that.”
Deltour does want to say that it is not a dismissal for compelling reasons and that everything has been handled correctly.
Deltour was one of the founders of the Journalism Council, the Journalists’ Author Society, the Persveilig.be reporting center for aggression and violence against journalists and the Journalistenloket.be, and was involved in the development of, among other things, a guideline for reporting on refugees and a guideline for children and youth journalism.