More recently, we saw the president of the Christian Democrats, Sammy Mahdi, participate in The Masked Singer dressed as a drag queen. Conner Rousseau, president of Vooruit, revealed that he was the pimp-bunny on the same show. Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) was followed to a Greek island in the reality show “Viva la Festa”. Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD), when he was still Minister of Justice, agreed to be immersed for several days in a prison. Without forgetting “Het Conclaaf” which locked party presidents and ministers together in a castle. This production of VTM a few weeks before the June election had a significant impact on the popularity of the candidates.
French-speaking reluctance
On the other side of the linguistic border, the examples are much fewer. MP Denis Ducarme (MR) participated in the program “Les Traitors”. The president of the MR, Georges-Louis Bouchez, made a shortened appearance on the Flemish show “Special Forces”. When he was Prime Minister, Elio Di Rupo (PS), was entitled to an intervention in Top Chef, but the extract was ultimately withdrawn following protests from Didier Reynders (MR). President Paul Magnette (PS) and Melchior Wathelet (cdH) took part in quizzes in Flanders several years ago.
Why doesn’t the French-speaking political world engage more with this type of promotion? First of all, because the French-speaking media space does not allow it.
“There is a contrast between the offer, even in terms of political infotainment, on the Flemish side, and what we can offer on the French-speaking side”explains Nicolas Baygert, doctor in information science, “We even see it in the offering of TV debates. The Sunday broadcasts have almost all disappeared. It was a sort of political cathodic mass for decades. For politicians, there is not much to get their teeth into to garner this famous capital of sympathy and to possibly show themselves in a different light.”
Absence de people
In a broader sense, this phenomenon is also facilitated by the pipolization that exists in the North of the country. “It is a mixture of genres which is completely accepted, which is practiced by elected officials from all parties, since there is no media cordon santé on the Flemish side. And it allows these characters to reach a wider audience and public who do not necessarily avoid political debates”continues the professor who teaches courses in particular on this scenario at IHECS. “In Flanders, politicians are treated as Bekende Vlamingen (“known Flemish”). This phenomenon of spectacularization of politics is completely accepted. On the French-speaking side, there is not the same conception of the public personality.”
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Before the June elections, RTL and RTBF tried to mix politics and entertainment. The first with a “pajama party” and the second with challenges. “There, we are more in the logic of infantilization. The aim is above all to destroy the solemn aura of politicians to put them in almost humiliating situations. I don’t always know what that brings, but the idea is to humanize policies by showing them in more informal contexts.”
Flanders also puts politicians on pure entertainment shows which desecrate the political individual. The difference is that it offers “a whole range of media devices that allow each policy to find its way”. It ranges from extremely serious and rigorous debate shows to shows without any political aim.
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