Press Club Brussels Europe #WeLoveBrussels | Page 16

who wrote for and printed the newspaper risked their
lives and many lost theirs. After the Second World
War it was replaced by “La Libre Belgique” on the initiative of the catholic Cardinal Mercier.
Both newspapers were housed in Rue du Persil and Rue
du Fossé-aux-Loups. It was important to have newspapers printed centrally to facilitate distribution by using
the available means of transport at that time. A distribution company was created expressly for this purpose by
Louis Bertrand, the founder of “Le Journal du Peuple” and
alderman for finance in the Schaerbeek municipality. He
also promoted the creation of bread baking cooperatives
(bread and newspapers were always linked in Belgium)
and the Messageries de la Presse for printing.
The Messageries was subsequently sold to Havas,
a major French group, but to guarantee press independence the “Association Autonome de la Presse
Belge” was created, the first Independent Belgian
Press Association to defend the rights of jour-

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nalists and the press in general. In 1921 the news
agency Belga was created to provide both reliable
information and clearly indicate the sources of the
information. In 1887 the daily “Le Soir” was created
and for the first time in Belgium a newspaper was
financed from advertising revenue.
In Rue du Persil the Union of Newspaper Producers
was established in 1847 to decide together with
newspaper editors how to distribute newspapers
which initially were delivered by rail. In Flanders
the debate was more complicated since at that time
the Francophone press was much more popular
than the one in Flemish. Newsprint for newspapers
arrived at the port of Antwerp where the price was
lower than in Brussels. This encouraged the creation
of the Port of Brussels linked through a canal to the
Antwerp harbour whereby Brussels then became a
“sea harbour” and thus able to enjoy a lower price for
its newsprint and much else besides.