Christophe Dujardin Named New RTBF Director-General

The government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation on Friday appointed Christophe Dujardin as the next director-general (administrateur général) of RTBF, Belgium’s French-language public broadcaster. The 54-year-old, currently Chief Consumer Officer at telecom operator Orange Belgium, will succeed Jean-Paul Philippot on 1 November 2026 for a six-year term, according to RTBF.

The decision concludes a months-long selection process and marks a generational shift at the top of a broadcaster led by Philippot for roughly 25 years.

A Long Selection Process

The appointment followed a formal procedure that began with an open call for applications in February 2026. Seventeen candidates applied, of which nine were accepted by an expert committee; by June, seven remained. On 17 July, the RTBF board of directors shortlisted three finalists: Dujardin, Caroline Franckx, CEO of the CHU Brugmann university hospital, and Emmanuel Tourpe, media director at France Télévisions’ overseas division and a former RTBF programmes director.

The three candidates were auditioned by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA), the French Community’s audiovisual regulator, on 27 August. In its non-binding opinion published in early September, the CSA ranked Dujardin and Franckx ex aequo in first place, ahead of Tourpe, as RTBF reported.

Media Minister Jacqueline Galant (MR) said Dujardin’s experience in transforming organisations and leading change, in both the public and private sectors, along with his digital expertise, were “decisive” in the government’s choice. “In a few weeks, a new page will open for RTBF,” she said. “Christophe Dujardin will help write it and meet the challenges facing public broadcasting.”

A Telecoms and Media Veteran

Dujardin, a father of two from Chaumont-Gistoux in Walloon Brabant, studied economic and social sciences in Namur before completing a master’s in treasury management in Antwerp. He began his career as a financial analyst at bpost, then spent some two decades at Belgacom and its successor Proximus, rising from financial controller to CFO and sales director. He served as CEO of the cable operator VOO before joining Orange Belgium in 2020.

At Orange he oversaw the integration of VOO into the operator in November 2025, an operation the CSA described as “seamless on a human level” despite its complexity — a point the regulator cited as evidence of his human-resources and transformation skills. The CSA praised his “human management style” and his participative, collective approach, and called him the candidate with the greatest experience in corporate management and change leadership.

The regulator nonetheless noted two reservations: the limited impact of his oral presentation, and a knowledge base stronger on technology than on content selection, production and creation.

Praise and Doubts

Commentary captured the mixed reception. As L’Avenir reported, one RTBF executive said of Dujardin, “He is ready to use,” while a former colleague, speaking anonymously, called him “an excellent manager, formidably clever, 100 percent results-oriented.”

The same article flagged two caveats: Dujardin has “neither the public-service DNA nor a content background,” being above all a man who talks finance, marketing, customer relations, brands and products. It also reported, citing multiple sources, that he has the support of MR president Georges-Louis Bouchez, though he has no known political affiliation.

Dujardin embraced the framing of his mandate in his own terms. “I want to approach this new mission with humility, ambition and independence,” he said, according to RTBF, stressing that editorial independence, rigour and pluralism are “essential conditions of public trust.” He said his first priority would be to listen, meet and prepare for a smooth transition.

Philippot, who remains in post until 31 October to organise the handover, said he saluted the appointment warmly and was at Dujardin’s “entire disposal” to ensure a transition as smooth as it is efficient.

Challenges Ahead

Dujardin inherits a broadcaster under financial pressure. RTBF must find more than €130 million in savings over four years, against a government subsidy of around €350 million. He will also need to negotiate a new management contract (contrat de gestion) with the FWB government starting in 2027 — the framework setting RTBF’s missions and means — and to steer the organisation’s digital transformation, symbolised by its new Media Square headquarters.

His mission letter also cites artificial intelligence, disinformation and pluralism as priorities.

What to Watch

Dujardin’s appointment consolidates a wider pattern in European public broadcasting: the recruitment of private-sector, digitally fluent executives to manage institutions facing funding squeezes and audience migration to platforms. Whether a telecoms-trained manager can safeguard public-service values — and translate that credibility into the negotiations ahead — will define his six-year mandate.

He stays at Orange until 1 November, when he takes up the role at RTBF.