Friend or Foe? The Populist Right and the Media in the Benelux

While right-wing populist parties (RWPPs) have rallied broad electoral support in some European countries (e.g. Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands), they failed to do so in others (e.g. Portugal, Ireland and Luxembourg). The Benelux region provides an ideal laboratory to examine this asymmetrical electoral performance since RWPPs have been more successful in the Netherlands and Flanders (i.e. the northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) than in Luxembourg and Wallonia (i.e. the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium). This paper considers the success and failure of RWPPs in the Benelux countries through the lens of the media. While many commentators have ascribed the spread of populism to the growing commercialisation of the media, the exact role of the latter in the success and failure of RWPPs remains poorly understood. This paper employs a comparative case studies approach to unveil the different ways in which the media can either facilitate or hinder the rise of the populist right. It primarily draws on in-depth, qualitative interviews with media practitioners (e.g. editors and journalists). The central claim of the paper is that the media are less ‘accessible’ to right-wing populist parties in Wallonia and Luxembourg than in Flanders and the Netherlands. The presence of a formal cordon sanitaire médiatique in Wallonia has made it difficult for far-right movements to reach out to voters and gain legitimacy. In Luxembourg, there appears to be an implicit agreement among editors and journalist not to provide a platform to right-wing populist contenders. In addition, due to partisan ties and government subsidies, the Luxembourgish media generally reflect the moderate views of the political elites. In sum, in Wallonia and Luxembourg there is little room for RWPPs to influence the public discourse; in the absence of a credible populist contender, the media have managed to maintain their ‘gatekeeping’ function. In Flanders and the Netherlands, on the other hand, the media seem to have become gradually more receptive to right-wing populist movements. The paper is composed of four sections. The first part generates a working definition of RWPPs and provides a literature review of the relationship between populism and the media. Whilst the media are generally conceptualised as a supply-side variable, it is argued here that the media should also be considered a demand-side explanation. The ways in which topics such as immigration are politicised can generate demand for RWPPs, thereby legitimising their discourse. The supply side considers the ways in which RWPPs use the media to harness this demand, for instance by examining how different media outlets choose to cover the populist right. The second section of the paper introduces the case studies, while the third part compares the ways in which the media approach the populist right. The final section raises the question whether the advent of new media in general, and the growing salience of social media in particular may have undermined the agenda-setting power to the written press. Against the backdrop of a rapidly-changing (mis)information age, the conclusion reflects on the ‘gatekeeping’ function of traditional media outlets.