Basque is a language that has few speakers if we
compared to other languages such as Spanish and to spread this language,
communication plays an important role. In media there are three
different fields.
Firstly we have the TV. According to this field, the
offer in Basque is very limited but we can find some channel in this
language. ETB1 is the most famous one
in the Basque Country which contains cultural and news programmes,
miscellaneous programmes and sports. Like we can see, the programs they
offer are not very varied and there are for adults and for children more than
for teenagers. That’s why maybe young people prefer to watch other channels.
The
radio offers similar service, with channels like Euskadi Irratia or Gaztea,
which are listened in the whole country. In
these cases everything is aimed at a younger audience and because of that,
radio channels are more attractive for teenagers. For example, Gaztea
Irratia offers a huge range of music and programs in Basque.
Finnaly, the third field is the press. Nowadays there is a single newspaper in
Basque that is distributed in the Basque Country, which is called Berria. But some other newspapers in Euskara have been created in
the recent years like Donostialdeko
Irutxuloko Hitza. This field is more focused on older people, because
teanagers usually read more magazines. If they offered magazines in Basque, the
number of young consumers in this area would probably increase.
In conclusion, we think that media has contributed to the promotion
of a language that doesn´t have a lot of speakers (as in the Basque language) with
the creation of TV, radio channels and newspapers in that language.
