The media in Euskera have been surprised by the reduction in the news in this year’s aid from the Basque Government. I have also followed the discussion closely. Sometimes from very close, like the interview by Goiena to the Vice-Minister of Linguistic Policy Patxi Baztarrika; a thorough reading of lines, and even writing in the line of phrases a sudden idea.

Question: “What photos do you make of the current media situation?” (…) Answer: “I do not believe that the media in Basque constitute a market of strength that we would still like today, and, on the other hand, I believe there is much room for Basque speakers to take over the media and products in Basque. The media in Basque should be successful in winning readers or spectators in their task”. Yes, OK, the media will have to guess, because otherwise, it will be festive. The question is how. And yes, it's for a long time, but how many vasco-speakers will have to do their media so that we can think it's OK? On the other hand, is it not very related to the steps that Euskera takes in society in the use? How to make a jump to consumption when Basques have major usage problems? Yes, the media will have to make that way, but in the strategies it is time that this challenge came in a different way, revolutionizing, among other things, the ways of working. Over the past 30 years, the product has been produced by the media and subsidized by the institutions, in particular by the Basque Government. Among the media there are two main public and private legs; the third key leg is that of the institutions; and the fourth that can help the world of research, the university. After 35 years, is it not time that these four legs (EITB, Hekimen, the Basque Government and universities) were put on the same table and think much more sustainably about the strategies and the most appropriate ways to increase media consumption? Yes, let the institution decide later, because it has to do so. But if the new working model were to come into force, wouldn't it help make the decisions better? In the innovation society, let us renew the relationship style once and for all and new designs will emerge. Sure.

“(...) The Basque Government is currently the main sponsor of the majority of the media in Basque.” As far as EiTB is concerned, but not in the others. The main sponsors are the workers who, with their narrow working conditions, allow the survival of the media; it is the buyer/consumer; and the customers who advertise. In the interview, Baztarrika recalls that the aid from the Basque Government is on average close to 20%. It's a key, but more key, 80 percent.

“To do so, [to win readers or viewers], they have to take into account their mental whims and their diversity of views.” Don't we? So how do you understand that most media remains on the market for so many years? “They must know how to make products that are comfortable and truly attractive to everyone.” For all Basques? How do you understand this? What kind of journalism do you get from that? Do they have to do the media that is now available to everyone or, if there are not, do they have to create new ones? These things should be spoken frankly and particularly calmly, for example, on the above-mentioned four-legged table. Berria, Goiena and all premises, ARGIA, Gaur Zortziko (Gara), Ortzadar (Deia), Jakin, Elhuyar, Hamaika, Bizkaia Irratia, Euskal Irratiak... Who did we not reach? Did we arrive with the missing Zabalik (El Diario Vasco)? What about Change with 16?

“We have an objective above all and that is to continually increase the use of Euskera. In the case of the media this means consumption (...) In order to meet this objective we put the criteria and in them the main criterion is that of scope”. If the argument were to be used by the media for social initiative, would it also serve the public? In 2012, ETB1’s screen share stood at 2.1%, three times less than in 2003, for various reasons. Would the reduction of the ETB budget be logical for this reason? No, we would all agree on that.

In the interview, Minister Baztarrika referred to the technical problems. But as far as subsidies are concerned, the problem is above all political, that your stock market needs more money, and that is a political decision. It is as political as the entry into force of the policy of conventions. Otherwise, the problem will remain there, now with one and the next with the other.