Belgian journalist and war correspondent Rudi Vranckx (1959) is known for his extensive reporting on conflict zones around the world. He has reported on countless conflicts, including those in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and the Balkans, for various media outlets such as VRT, CNN and the BBC. Vranckx has won numerous awards for his journalism, including the Prix Bayeux-Calvados for War Correspondents and the Flemish Television Star. He is also the author of several books on war and conflict. During Difference Day 2019, he received an honorary doctorate from the VUB and ULB.
Honorary Doctorate Difference Day for Freedom of Expression 2019
Belgian journalist and war correspondent Rudi Vranckx is known for his extensive reporting on conflict zones around the world. He has reported on numerous conflicts, including those in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and the Balkans, for various media outlets such as VRT, CNN and the BBC. Vranckx has won numerous awards for his journalism, including the Prix Bayeux-Calvados for War Correspondents and the Flemish Television Star. He is also the author of several books on war and conflict. During Difference Day 2019, he received an honorary doctorate from the VUB and ULB.
In 1988, Vranckx joined the BRT radio news service, shortly after which he moved to the television editorial team. In 1989, he received his first major assignment as a war reporter in Romania during the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. This was followed by the Gulf War of 1990-1991, the Yugoslav Wars and the major conflicts in the Middle East. During the violent protests in 2011 against President Mubarak's regime in Egypt, he was one of the last European journalists to remain on the ground. He then visited the cities of Al Bayda and Benghazi in Libya with a team from VRT, where fierce fighting was raging between supporters and opponents of Muammar al-Gaddafi. In early 2012, Vranckx was involved in an attack in Syria that claimed the life of a fellow French journalist, Gilles Jacquier.
Vranckx received much recognition for his work. In 2012, he was appointed Ambassador for Peace by Pax Christi Flanders. In 2018, he was named Journalist for Peace by the Humanist Peace Council and in 2018 he received the Carnegie Wateler Peace Prize for his extraordinary courage and dedication in reporting from conflict zones and his commitment to the fate of victims of conflict. Vranckx collected musical instruments for a music school in the Iraqi city of Mosul that had been destroyed by IS. After receiving an honorary doctorate from VUB and ULB in 2019, he was awarded Humo's HA! in 2024 for outstanding television achievements.
Rudi Vranckx was a guest speaker at the Feast of the Free Spirit organised by the VUB at the opening of the academic year in 2024. For Vranckx, a free spirit is the essence, the lifeblood of his job, because good journalism is only possible when free from political or religious pressure. ‘You can provide context and interpret things, but the facts remain sacred. That is the only sacredness I accept.’ Caroline Pauwels, with her concept of “Truth against power”, was a role model for him in this respect: seeking the truth against the powers that be. Nevertheless, there have been times when he has been forced to remain silent, even if only for a moment. ‘When you work in a dictatorship or among religious extremists, you learn to keep quiet. It's self-preservation. After that, I want to say what I have to say.’ According to Vranckx, freedom of expression is under pressure. It has become the front line of our time. During the Arab revolution, he briefly thought that social media would become the ultimate instrument of freedom, but it became an instrument of obfuscation and extremism. Seven high-tech companies use their algorithms to determine what “the truth” is and what we should think. He cites Elon Musk, the Darth Vader of our time, as the most egregious example. His X is a sewer where people can spread disinformation to millions of followers.
Yet there is hope, he said during his speech. He rightly asked himself where the free spirit was when yet another colleague of his was murdered in the Middle East. And when Hamas murdered more than 1,000 Israelis on 7 October 2023. And where it is when hospitals and schools in Gaza are bombed again. ‘They are a shovel of earth on the grave of international law. A death blow to our own humanity.’ Vranckx never thought he would end up in a world with wars in Ukraine, the Palestinian territories and Sudan, while international politics drifts aimlessly in shameful indifference, hypocrisy and double standards. But he pins his hopes on those who spoke out against abuse by big capital more than 10 years ago. On those who rallied behind Indignez-vous. On those who took to the streets five years ago to kick our conscience into gear about the climate, about the future of our planet. Those who campaign at universities against the suffering in Gaza and the occupation, the eternal occupation of the Palestinians. It is always a new generation of young people who develop a moral compass with a view to the future. ‘Let one motto guide us: Truth against power.’
Sources: VUB Today, speech Feest van de Vrije Geest van de VUB.
