LEAST BIASED
These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using an appeal to emotion or stereotypes). The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources. See all Least Biased Sources.
- Overall, we rate Le Soir Least Biased based on balanced story selection and reasonably balanced editorials. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: LEAST BIASED
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: Belgium
Press Freedom Rating: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY
History
Launched in 1887, Le Soir is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper based in Brussels, Belgium. Emile Rossel founded the paper as an independent news source, and to maintain independence, Rossel decided to finance the paper through commercial advertising. As a result, he founded the“Agence Rossel,” the First advertising agency in Brussels. Le Soir is also a part of the Leading European Newspaper Alliance (LENA), and they provide selected articles to this joint platform under plus.lesoir.be (subscription required). Le Soir covers the world and national news, political analysis, sports, and culture. Béatrice Delvaux is the editor-in-chief of Le Soir.
Read our profile on Belgium media and government.
Funded by / Ownership
Le Soir is owned by Groupe Rossel, who controls the press in Wallonia. Groupe Rossel also publishes titles under the name Sudpresse. Furthermore, it controls 50 percent of Mediafin, which publishes financial newspapers. Groupe Rossel is owned by the Hurbain Family (Patrick, Christine, and Nathalie). Patrick Hurbain is the chairman and managing director of Groupe Rossel; for more on-board members, see here. Subscriptions and advertising generate revenue.
Analysis / Bias
In 2021, Reporters Without Borders ranked Belgium 11/180 in their Press Freedom Index. The Prime Minister of Belgium is Alexander De Croo, who leans center-right (The coalition government consists of Liberals, Socialists, and Greens).
Le Soir’s political orientation is defined as Liberal, which is the center-right in Belgium. Le Soir columnists are known experts in their areas, such as Jean-Paul Marthoz, a Columnist for “Soir,” covering national politics. He also teaches international journalism at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He has been European press director for Human Rights Watch and an EU correspondent for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In review, Le Soir reports political news in a neutral tone with minimally loaded language in their headlines, such as “Crisis center: “Your behavior during the holidays will be decisive.” They also often use Belga (Belgium news agency) as their source and the New York Times. When covering USA news/world news, Le Soir generally relies on the AFP, such as this “US presidential election: Justice Minister did not “see enough fraud” to invalidate Biden’s victory.”
Editorially, some articles are only available to subscribers; therefore, our analysis is limited to their free articles. However, the op-eds we were able to review were reasonably balanced with more leaning left, such as this Cevipol’s carte blanche: “Women politicians: leaders like no other?” and this In France, it is urgent to build an exemplary police force. Since we were unable to read enough op-eds to make a qualified determination of editorial bias, we are moderately confident that Le Soir falls on the left side of least biased and highly factual in reporting based on our small sampling.
Failed Fact Checks
- None in the Last 5 years
Overall, we rate Le Soir Least Biased based on balanced story selection and reasonably balanced editorials. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (M. Huitsing 12/2/2020) Updated (04/12/2022)
Source: lesoir.be
Last Updated on May 31, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check
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