Jean-Marie "Jan" Becaus (born 18 July 1948 in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

) is a Flemish politician and former journalist. He is best known for having been a reporter and news anchor for the Flemish public broadcaster VRT, a job he held for 28 years. In 2014 he became a co-opted senator for the

New Flemish Alliance The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). T ...

Early life and education

Becaus grew up in Muide, the port district of Ghent, where his family ran a butchers' shop; he moved with his family to

Heusden Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged with ...

in 1963. In 1971 Becaus qualified as a language teacher, a job he held until 1984.

Career

Becaus became a journalist at the VRT (then known as the BRT) in 1984; a year later, in 1985, he became a regular anchor of the news programme ''

Het Journaal VRT NWS Journaal (formerly Het Journaal) is the main news program of the VRT, broadcast daily on the channels één and Canvas. The first edition of ''Het Journaal'' was broadcast on 31 October 1953, the day that Flemish television began. Ini ...

''. For many years, Becaus presented the late night news; however, in 2012 he moved to the afternoon and evening bulletins, due to a change in format of the late news. In addition to presenting the news, Becaus was also the VRT's royal correspondent, reporting on the

Belgian monarchy Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's he ...

; in this capacity he made a documentary about

Queen Paola Paola (born Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria;AlthougThe Belgian Monarchy websiteattributes the title of "Princess" to Queen Paola prior to marriage, Burke's Peerage 1973, The Descendants of Louis XIII 1999, ''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels'' 200 ...

, whom he also briefly taught

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. He also regularly appeared as a reporter and commentator on stories relating to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Becaus presented his final broadcast on 31 July 2013, bringing to an end a career of almost thirty years as a journalist. Within Flanders, Becaus is well known for his correct pronunciation of foreign languages, especially English; for this reason, he became very popular on social media in his final years as a news presenter. In 2014, Becaus was

co-opted Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelt coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings. It may refer to the process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manage opposition and so maintai ...

as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for the

. Some press commentators have referred to him as a "white rabbit" ( wit konijn).

Personal life

Becaus is married, has no children and lives in

Sint-Martens-Latem Sint-Martens-Latem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders, in Belgium. The municipality comprises the towns of Deurle and Sint-Martens-Latem proper. In 2021, Sint-Martens-Latem had a total population of 8,285. The t ...

, near Ghent.

References

1948 births Living people 20th-century Belgian journalists Male journalists Belgian television journalists Flemish journalists New Flemish Alliance politicians Members of the Senate (Belgium) 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian journalists Belgian senators of the 56th legislature {{Belgium-tv-stub