The publication includes outstanding research, analysis and projects of 2024 in the field of communication and media in Basque and has also focused on 2025, which will be an important year, since the public administration and the media sector are working on the new model of the call for grants for media. This is what Igor Astibia, director of Hekimen, delves into in his article this year, since this is the main activity of the association in recent months. Hibai Castro, a member of the Observatory, also summarizes what this year will bring to the media in the field of technology.
[Read or download the yearbook here]
The Signature section includes the reflection of journalist Nerea Azurmendi from the watchtower of those who, after years of working in Deia and Diario Vasco, have exhausted their profession but have not abandoned their profession.
In the window open to the sector, there are five articles received from these fruitful projects. In the 15 years since the first broadcast of Hamaika TV, the first one shows the prospective intentions of that broadcaster; the second one is about the first year of the platform Primeran; the next one is about the explanatory videos Ikusgela promoted by the Basque Wikipedians association; the fourth one is about the media Bada.eus (from young people to young people of the Northern Basque Country; and the last one is about Common Voice, the collaborative task of teaching Basque to the technology.
The section of writings that are the fruit of long research works consists of six long articles and a short one.
The article by Ane Martinez Juez and Josu Amezaga Albizu of the NOR Research Group of the EHU and the Basque Media Observatory <<Data Culture in the Basque Media: A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the situation of the Hekimen Association’s media>> offers a diagnostic approach to data culture and the identification of the variables that influence its integration into work routines.
Ainara Larrondo Ureta and her colleagues from the EHU’s Gureiker Research Group present <<The use of artificial intelligence in the Basque media>>, which explores another very important issue: the extent to which the knowledge and use of this field of technological development, known as artificial intelligence, is widespread among journalists and media professionals.
In the article <<New lines of business in the Basque podcast industry: own productions and branded content>>>, Arantza Gutiérrez Paz, from the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising of the EHU, discusses these relatively new and expanding practices in the Basque podcast industry.
One of the indispensable works of the year is the one that measures and analyzes the traffic on the websites of the Basque media: <<The audiences of the websites of Hekimen in 2024: more media have been measured than ever>. Libe Mimenza Castillo and Ane Martinez Juez, from the NOR Research Group of the EHU and the Basque Media Observatory, have carried out an analysis of the annual evolution. It should be noted that the audience data of 60 media outlets, the largest number in history, has been measured and, in addition, the barrier of 40 million sessions has been overcome again.
To conclude, a set of triples focused on audiovisuals and cinema have been completed with the studies that have been carried out in the last year: <<Audiovisual in Basque from the eyes of young people. Opinions and prejudices>> by June Ansa Agirre of Mondragon University and his colleagues; <<Wounds in the mirror: Study of the dissemination of the film Bizkarsoro>> by Josu Martínez of the NOR Research Group of the EHU; and <<Young people and the habit of going to the cinema>> by Julen Ugartemendia Carcedo et al. of the audiovisual observatory of the UPV/EHU.
As in previous years, the publication has been presented to the public in a Basque media and has been attended by Libe Mimenza, coordinator of the Observatory and editor of the publication, Hibai Castro, member of the Observatory and editor of the publication, and Igor Astibia, director of the Hekimen Association.
