It’s not everyday that you meet a crown prince to discuss the future of the Internet. We had the privilege this week to address Belgium’s Prince Philippe .
Each year, the Prince’s foundation invites 16 aspiring young journalists between the age of 20 and 25 to compete in a journalism contest called Belgodyssee - Belgian Odyssey.
Winners are picked in December. Importantly, the contestants come from all the Belgian’s three (French, Dutch and German) language communities and they are obliged to work together.
Before the competition begins, the contestants attend series of master class courses on journalism. Google was invited to speak about freedom of speech, alongside Belgium's top-notch journalists Alain Gerlache of French-speaking RTBF and Luc Rademakers, the editor in chief of Flemish national television VRT. In addition to this year’s contestants, more than 100 participants in previous years attended the event at the Residence Palace in Brussels.
All three lectures focused on journalistic responsibility in dealing with new social media and on freedom of expression on the net. We presented our approach to these issues. The debate was animated and the Prince himself intervened with a question about the limits of free expression. As a company with the explicit mission to “make all the world’s information universally accessible and useful” - we explained how we protect our users’ privacy in the face of government demands for information and how we grapple with the tough question of how much speech is too much speech.
Right now we are standing at a critical crossroads in ensuring human rights and civil liberties for people around the world. Its good to know that royal leaders are taking note and the next generation of journalists is taking interest.
Posted by Tineke Meijerman, Communications, Benelux
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