DeWereldMorgen is a free

Belgian Dutch Flemish ( ) is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to the region known as Flanders in northern Belgium; it is sp ...

-language

alternative media Alternative media are media sources that differ from established forms of media, such as mainstream media or mass media, in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica ...

website, started in March 2010 as a joint initiative of the Belgian Dutch-language

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

website Pala.be and the Belgian section of the

Independent Media Center The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seat ...

. It is operated by a core of professional journalists and receives contributions from about 300 volunteers annually. ''DeWereldMorgen''‘s total revenue in 2010 was , but nevertheless made a loss of (most expenses go to personnel costs, and rent of buildings and rooms). The core editorial team is paid a monthly salary. All of the content of ''De Wereld Morgen'' is published under

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bu ...

type CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 BE.

Alternative

Kaat Van Damme's master thesis claims that ''DeWereldMorgen'' can be defined as an alternative media website with regard to content, editing, and the business model. Among Belgian media, ''DeWereldMorgen'', Apache.be and Mondiaal Nieuws are often considered to be the main alternative news media. It is characterized by politicization.

Content

The website states that it seeks to be independent of large media organizations and feature the voices of

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s and social movements. It also works together with similar partners such as ''StampMedia'' and . It can be characterized as preferring to be correct, rather than neutral. In relation to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, Yves Pepermans characterized ''DeWereldMorgen'' as coming "closest to a democratic arena" (compared with other Belgian newspapers ''

De Standaard (, ) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party, and in opposition to the Sociali ...

'' and ''

De Morgen ''De Morgen'' (; ''The Morning'') is a Flemish newspaper with a circulation of 53,860. The paper is published in Antwerp, Belgium. History and profile ''De Morgen'' originates from a merger in 1978 of two socialist newspapers ' (meaning "Onwar ...

''); and has claimed it criticizes the role of markets and stakeholders in relation to

, and that it advocates for larger public control over the economy for a socially just outcome for climate change. However, its addition to the debate is one-sided, and the media outlet has few readers.

Editing

Other than traditional media, there is less contrast between the professional journalist and the reader. Reactions can be posted even anonymously, and can only rarely be removed. Furthermore, ''DeWereldMorgen'' encourages readers to contribute content via the site's "Community" section. Even though everybody can create new articles in the "Community", DeWereldMorgen is critical of the model of gatewatching: instead, a professional team of editors selects articles for promotion to the front page. DeWereldMorgen also tries to inform its readers about changes within the website.

Business model

Because DeWereldMorgen presents oneself as a "movement for media and democracy", they receive subsidies; without which they would have serious financial troubles. Other than these subsidies, it is mostly dependent on financial partners, which can create a bias against publishing any articles criticizing those partners. Micropayments, book sales, donations and lectures generate a smaller part of its revenue. In 2010, was donated to DeWereldMorgen, possibly by people who cancel their paid subscription to another newspaper. DeWereldMorgen is sponsored by

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s. 60% of the total revenue for 2010 was received via subsidies, some of which stem from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and from different departments of the

Flemish Community The Flemish Community (, ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilities only within the precise geographical boundaries of the Dutch-language area and of the ...

, such as the Department of Popular Education (). While ''DeWereldMorgen'' thinks it receives far too few subsidies in comparison to other media, an extreme-right nationalist website called "REACT" (where

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

Voorpost Voorpost (" outpost, picket") is an ethno-nationalist ('' volksnationalist'') group founded in Flanders, Belgium, by Karel Dillen in 1976 as a splinter from the Volksunie. Voorpost pursues the irredentist ideal of a Greater Netherlands, a natio ...

and :nl:Vlaamse Solidaire Vakbond advertise) criticizes the website and its subsidies in denigrating language.

Scholarly interest

A master thesis has analysed the platform in relation to Apache.be (another Belgian Dutch-language alternative media website) in 2010, and a post-doctoral linguist analyses it with regards to the Belgian newspaper ''De Morgen''. It has been contrasted with newspapers ''De Standaard'' and ''De Morgen'' in a 2015 PhD thesis; in relation to politicization of

, and it has been subjected to a case-study of "positionality" and "the

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement that addresses injustice that occurs when poor or marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has gene ...

frame".

References

{{reflist, 2 European news websites