Newspaper publications in Belgium had started from early 17 th century. The merchants of Antwerp and Venice shared a news bulletin called the Courante Bladen. However, newspaper in the modern sense of the word, was established in 1605 by Abraham Verhoeven. The name of his newspaper was Nieuwe Tijdinghen. It was being published in series in broadsheets. It contained not only news but also illustrations and advertisements. This irregularly printed newspaper did not contain either dates or page numbers. The newspaper had special correspondents abroad. It reported even first hand account of the battles fought in Antwerp against the Dukes of Nassau. Nevertheless, it had to suffer censorship at the hands of archducal leaders.

In 1649 , Jean Mommaert II developed his Courrier Veritable des Pays-Bas? ou Relations Fideles Extraites de Diverses Letteres . The name of the newspaper literary meant " True News from the Low Countries or Unvarnished Tales Copied from Various Letters". This was the Brussels' only daily newspaper until 1791. During that period , Martin Binnart began to edit a second daily, Den Ordinarien Posten, in Antwerp. In 1666, the Gentsche Posttijdinghen appeared in Ghent; later it was replaced by the Gazette van Gent. Two other papers were founded at this time, in Bruges and Liege.

With the coming of the 18th century , the number of newspapers increased steadily in Belgium, but not without difficulty, as the region's Spanish and Austrian rulers were not anxious to see a Belgian press develop. Not only that, during the Brabant Revolution (1789-90) , the loyalties of the public and the press were split . French authorities then in control banned some papers , while others were allowed to continue publishing because of their loyalty to France. During this period, one publication departed from normal Belgian press policies by printing the news without voicing its opinion; its only commentary related to what it chose to print and what to omit.