- On 2 December he was aware of the resolution of the call of EUR 6 million. For the second time the Department of Culture of the Basque Government has launched this call. EUR 6 million under unbeatable conditions: there is no need to justify anything, even if you earn money and distribute profits among shareholders… You will be entitled to participate in this call. Yes, you will have to pay the CIES company to show up in the CIES test.
The second year is the one that comes out of this extraordinary call. Last year was 5 million and this year 6 million, with an increase of 20%. On the contrary, for the convening of Basque media, after three years of negotiations from the Hekimen Media Association in Euskera, we have only managed to increase by 5%, a figure that has not been applied to all media either.
Some curious aspects of this call are the extension of the call to certain radios and televisions, as well as to the digital media, but this increase has meant the distribution of 452,012.38 euros among the ten new media, as well as the use of another 550.000 euros to improve mainly El Correo, El Diario Vasco, Noticias de Gipuzkoa, Noticias de Álava, SER or Nervion.
What were the conditions for distributing money this year? Very simple: to be an organization of more than five workers, to provide daily information and to have the media involved in the study of the CIES.
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They have taken into account data according to the CIES to make the distribution of money, but is the same the potential reader of a journal that publishes in Spanish as the one that publishes in Euskera only? Are they worth it? The media in Spanish and Basque are moving in very different universes; how much is a reader in Basque worth in our universe? Does the government not have to bear in mind that the Basque language is a minority language? Do the CIES data really respond to this reality? There are striking cases: El Correo (according to CIES data from 2021 + internet), despite losing 61,000 readers from the first wave to the second wave, has received 10.85% more money. In 2021 it had 637,000 readers according to CIES, in exchange for 1,608,716,91 euros, and in 2022, with 576,000 readers, it received 1,783,281,73 euros.
The political will is what is going on, what is going backwards and what remains on the exit grid, hoping that the situation will always change. And that feeling is the one that prevails today.
It is difficult to make a quiet reading. Because those journals they publish in Spanish are also the ones occupied by the Basque Government and the large advertising items of the main outbreaks and municipalities of the CAV, and you ask for peace of mind to give the information in the broadest and most clear way to the readers, but how to leave the rage under the pillow?
We come back to the usual thing: the political will makes it go ahead, which step backwards and which is on the exit grid, hoping that the situation will always change. And that feeling is the one that prevails today. We have seen goodwill in recent years with representatives of the Vice-Minister for Linguistic Policy of the Government, but then such a special call of this nature leads to total disqualification, and re-emphasises what the priorities of this Government are. For a people to have critical readers, it is good to have different and diverse media, but the same race cannot be done under such different conditions.
Yes, we are “irreversibly” to some, who we have to listen to in the halls of government, but do not underestimate the support and members of the Basque press. They, like in difficult times, are keeping this sector with their economic contributions. Yes, we receive subsidies under controlled conditions, annual audits… This extraordinary subsidy of EUR 6 million also demonstrates that there are many possibilities of political will, of getting out of rigidity and of genuinely betting.
Meanwhile, we move forward.