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Flemish newspapers online: De Standaard, HLN, De Morgen and VRT
Flanders gets its news in Dutch from De Standaard, De Morgen, Het Laatste Nieuws, Het Nieuwsblad and regional titles such as the Gazet van Antwerpen, as well as VRT NWS and VTM, on websites and apps that are often partly paywalled.
The Flemish movement and its newspapers
The Dutch-language press grew in strength alongside the Flemish movement. Het Laatste Nieuws was founded in Brussels in 1888 by Julius Hoste, De Standaard appeared in 1918, and De Morgen was born in 1978, inheriting the legacy of socialist papers from Ghent and Antwerp.
Mediahuis and DPG Media, two dominant groups
Mediahuis publishes De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad, the Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg. DPG Media publishes Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen and owns the commercial channel VTM. This concentration shapes most of the Flemish media landscape today.
What stance does each daily take?
De Standaard, rooted in the Flemish Catholic world, is now a centrist paper of record. De Morgen keeps a progressive, urban outlook. Het Laatste Nieuws, liberal in origin, and Het Nieuwsblad target a broad popular readership with plenty of sport and crime news.
Antwerp, Limburg, West Flanders: regional news
The Gazet van Antwerpen leads in Antwerp province and Het Belang van Limburg around Hasselt. Het Nieuwsblad and HLN publish local editions for Ghent, Bruges and Leuven, while regional channels such as ATV and Focus-WTV complete this coverage.
VRT NWS, Radio 1 and Studio Brussel
The Flemish public broadcaster VRT delivers news through VRT NWS, Radio 1 and Radio 2, while Studio Brussel and MNM target younger listeners. Its VRT MAX platform offers the television news on replay, sometimes with restrictions outside Belgium.
Reading Flemish Dutch
Flemish newspapers use standard Dutch with some specifically Belgian administrative vocabulary. French-speaking readers can turn to Daardaar, a Brussels outlet that translates articles from the Flemish press into French, to follow debates in the north of the country more easily.
Brussels seen in Dutch
In Brussels, Bruzz serves the Dutch-speaking community through a website, a radio station and a magazine. For the French-speaking side of the capital and of Wallonia, see the page on the Walloon press and its regional dailies.
Investigation, opinion and news magazines
The reader-funded investigative site Apache focuses notably on urban planning and political networks in Antwerp. The weeklies Knack, from the Roularta group, and Humo, from DPG Media, have combined investigations, interviews and culture for several decades.
Belga and the Raad voor de Journalistiek
Belga supplies the Dutch-language wires used by all these titles. The Raad voor de Journalistiek, the Flemish press ethics council, reviews complaints from the public, while the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media supervises radio and television in Flanders.
How does the Flemish press cover politics?
Flemish political life, shaped by the N-VA, Vlaams Belang, CD&V and Vooruit, is covered in great detail. To place these debates in a national context, the general page on the French- and Dutch-language Belgian press remains a good starting point.
The Flemish economy and the port of Antwerp
De Tijd, the Dutch-language business daily, follows Antwerp's chemical industry, the port of Antwerp-Bruges and Flemish small businesses, as does Kanaal Z on television. The European context is covered in the selection of the European press, useful for trade questions.
Flemish digital subscriptions
De Standaard, De Morgen and HLN mix free articles with premium content reserved for subscribers, whereas VRT NWS remains free to access. A fact confirmed in both a Mediahuis title and a DPG Media title gains considerably in reliability.
Reading Flanders from abroad, step by step
- Choose a quality daily, De Standaard or De Morgen, plus a popular title such as HLN to gauge which stories interest the general public.
- Use VRT NWS for free news and its live coverage of elections and major Flemish events.
- Rely on Daardaar or a translation tool if you do not read Dutch, checking any ambiguous passages carefully.
- Add your province's regional paper, such as the Gazet van Antwerpen or Het Belang van Limburg, for municipal news.
- Listen to Radio 1 online for political debates and morning interviews with Flemish leaders.
- Compare a sensitive topic, such as state reform, in the Flemish press and in Le Soir or La Libre.
Prices and access for Flemish media
| Media type | Access | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Quality dailies (De Standaard, De Morgen) | Paid subscription, variable price | Premium articles locked, a few free texts |
| Popular dailies (HLN, Het Nieuwsblad) | Mixed | Free news feed, paid investigations |
| VRT NWS and VRT radio | Free | Video replay sometimes geo-blocked outside Belgium |
| Weeklies Knack and Humo | Subscription or single-issue purchase | Some articles available online |
| Daardaar | Free, with optional support | French translations of Flemish articles |
Useful facts about Flanders
- Language: Dutch; Brussels is bilingual French-Dutch
- Public broadcaster: VRT (VRT NWS, Radio 1, Radio 2, Studio Brussel)
- Press groups: Mediahuis and DPG Media; Roularta weeklies
- Business daily: De Tijd; sport: Sporza and Het Nieuwsblad
- Capital of Flanders: Brussels, seat of the Flemish government
- Press ethics: Raad voor de Journalistiek
- Currency: euro; Central European time zone
Pitfalls when reading the Flemish press
- Relying on machine translation for a sensitive political story: the nuances of Belgian Dutch can change the meaning of a quote.
- Confusing the position of one Flemish party with that of Flanders as a whole, when editorials in different papers often diverge.
- Taking an opinion piece from the debate pages of De Standaard or De Morgen for a straight news article.
- Believing that a site for bypassing Flemish premium articles is safe: such sites often spread fraudulent ads and malware.
- Overlooking VRT MAX geo-blocking and wrongly concluding that a programme has been withdrawn.
Common questions about Flemish newspapers
What is the most widely read Flemish newspaper?
Het Laatste Nieuws, from DPG Media, is generally regarded as the Flemish daily with the largest circulation, followed by popular Mediahuis titles such as Het Nieuwsblad. De Standaard and De Morgen reach a smaller readership but carry weight in political debate.
Can you read the Flemish press without speaking Dutch?
Yes, partly. Daardaar regularly translates articles into French, and machine translation tools make it possible to grasp the essentials. For a delicate subject, though, it is better to check the original quote or consult a French-language outlet reporting on it.
Why are some Flemish articles locked?
An icon or specific label marks articles reserved for digital subscribers on Mediahuis and DPG Media websites. Short reports and part of the news feed remain free, while analysis and investigations require a subscription.
Is the VRT accessible outside Belgium?
The VRT NWS website and live radio are generally accessible from abroad. Some VRT MAX programmes, notably series and sports broadcasts, are restricted to Belgium for reasons of broadcasting rights.