Hekimen criticizes most Basque media being out of Covid-19 subsidy
- The Basque media association of popular initiative has analysed two calls for grants from the Basque Government to support the media this year, and has concluded that a “substantial increase” in resources is needed to stabilise the sector, drive innovation processes and maintain the creation of new media.
The world of communication is undergoing a profound transformation process: “The media in Euskera play an important social role not only in the process of normalizing Euskera, but also in the right to information, ensuring diversity of opinions and combating misinformation.”
However, to address these tasks legally it is necessary “not only to stabilize and consolidate the media ecosystem in Basque, but also to adapt and improve to the new reality”. Considers that this adaptation should be done through innovation and that support from public institutions is essential to this end.
“We are not meeting 35% of the costs”
It has also made an assessment of the calls for grants made this year. It first assessed what was done for the media in Basque for the period 2022-2024 and was concerned that they still do not cover 35% of the standard costs established in 2018. These subsidies are intended to support the stability of the channels of communication, but the association considers that “the role, electricity or high fuel price” has taken them further from ensuring stability.
According to the initiatives, “there are media that instead of receiving more from the call receive less. And it realizes the paradox that, as the economic fund of the call is fixed, “the increase in production or the creation of new projects becomes against the sector”.
Most of Euskera is still out
It has also assessed the extraordinary subsidies of the Basque Government to address the plight of the media in the Covid-19 pandemic. He acknowledges that this year more media has received help in Basque than last year, but points out that most are still outside this call: “The effects of the pandemic have been felt by all the media and all have worked to properly inform its recipients.”
He considers that this distribution damages the media in Basque, “because the system used to calculate the audience does not distinguish potential audiences and it is evident that the potential audience of the Spanish-language media is not the same as that of the Basque one”. For all these reasons, Hekimen demands a significant increase in resources from public institutions.
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