Introduction
Today, society needs more than ever high-quality media to guide its important social functions with excellence and to collaborate in the creation of a participatory public sphere.
But to do so, the media must have an audience, reach society. The significant question is as follows: Are the media well prepared for audience, for development? Further limiting research, are minority language radio and television well prepared to develop and obtain audience and metric results, taking into account their limited and difficult reality?
This article analyzes the importance or effect of some structural or structural factors on the development and dimension of radio and television audiences. These factors can be internal and external to radio and television. With its definition and use, an index has been developed to calculate a general reference at European level and to know the situation of the seven minority languages of Europe: Basque, Catalan, Galician, Frisian, Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
This concept and method of measurement, which is proposed for the first time and can be pioneering, is called the Structural Suitability Index for the Development of the Hearing in Radio and Television in Minority Languages 2 (IGAE Index, summarised). The HEKA research group has been developed by these signatories, but it is acknowledged with satisfaction and success that university researchers, media professionals and directors of the seven radio and television channels investigated have participated in the elaboration of the Index.
Objectives
The objectives and results of this article and study are three:
-
- Creation and elaboration of the Structural Adequacy Index for Audience Development (IGAE Index): in this first objective and result the concept has been generated, identified the structural factors and elaborated the measurement index.
- Calculation of the Global IGAE Index at European level for radio and television broadcasting in minority languages: this second result establishes the European reference IGAE Index. This European general index has been calculated from the evaluation made by the professional and academic expert panel.
- Measurement of the IGAE Index of each of the minority language broadcasters and television channels investigated: the IGAE Index of each of the investigated broadcasters and television channels has been evaluated and calculated to know the status and adequacy index of their structural factors. These results have been compared both with the AGEE Index at European level and with those obtained by other radios and televisions.
Methodology
-
- In total, seven televisions and seven radios have been investigated, one in each community. They"re all public, they have generalist programming and they reach the entire community. The list is as follows:
- Televisions: TV3 in Catalonia, ETB1 in Euskadi, TVG in Galicia, S4C in Wales, TG4 in Ireland, Omrop Fryslân-TV in Frisia and BBC ALBA in Scotland.
- Radios: Catalunya Ràdio in Catalonia, Euskadi Irratia in the Basque Country, Radio Galega in Galicia, BBC in Radio Cymru Wales, RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta in Ireland, Omrop Fryslân-Radio Frisa and BBC ALBA in Scotland.
- The scales for the construction and interpretation of the Structural Adequacy Index for the Development of the Hearing (IGAE Index) have been developed following the appropriate methodological and scientific criteria and steps (Hsia, 1988; Wimmer & Dominick, 1983; Zabaleta, 1997).First, the adequate, varied and related bibliographic team of the audience 2017 was consulted with the factor Corwe.Secondly, a synthesis, definition and staggering of the exposed factors was performed and an interim questionnaire was developed. As a test, the research team conducted a pilot evaluation to ensure the consistency of the questionnaire and the application of the index and to correct possible doubts in the coding. Once this test was passed, the provisional index questionnaire was sent to a team of experts composed of 33 people for evaluation and contributions and modifications.In the composition of this group, special attention was paid to the area of knowledge (media professionals and university professors), gender and media diversity. The team was:
- 15 academics or university teachers in the field of communication (45%).
- 18 professionals (55%): Directors of seven radio and television broadcasters from the Basque Country, Galicia, Catalonia, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Frisia and experienced professionals in different media.
Thus, these 33 experts proposed a series of contributions, ideas and structural factors. All of them were evaluated by the authors of this study, with the collaboration of other collaborators, and finally, a consensus was reached and the index of factors was determined. In this index there are eight structural factors: three outside radio and television and five outside radio and television.
Structural factors external to television:
- Speaker population (composed of number and percentage of speakers)
- Linguistic understanding between languages.
- Competitiveness or competition between media (between media of any kind).Structural factors within television
- Notoriety or notoriety.
- Prestige.
- Quality and abundance of programming.
- Financing.
- Presence (activity) in social networks and non-linear services.
Scale of values for coding and assessment of structural factors
The structural factors have been evaluated by experts using a six-category Likert scale (0 = nothing; 5 = very high/important).
- Likert scale for the evaluation of structural factors
Text value
None
Very low
Low
Mean
Alto
Very high
Numeric value
0
1
2
3
4
5
Source: authors. Note: 1. In the factor, in the measurement of minority language speakers, a combined objective scale has been used (see table below).
External factor 1: quantitative dimension of minority language speakers
To determine this structural factor, two parameters have been taken into account: number and percentage of minority language speakers. In fact, it may be that in a community the number of speakers is quite high, but if their percentage is low in that society and, therefore, the percentage of speakers is small, their presence may be diluted or blurred, which affects the development of the radio or television audience.
The following table shows the number of speakers and percentage data, probably the most recent (most 2020-2022). Data from Euskadi, Catalonia and Frisia belong to the political-administrative community and not to the linguistic community, following in this case the criterion of the companies that measure audience.
- number and percentage of speakers from the seven communities (2016-2022)
Quantity
speaking %
Catalonia
6.099.433
81.2%
Galicia
2.309.982
88.1%
Basque Country
1.006.826
47.5%
Wales
870.519
29.1%
Ireland (Republic and Ir. Northern)
899,566
14.2%
Frisia
471.250
72.5%
Scotland
87,056
1.9%
Total
12.068.581
Mean: 43.9%
Own elaboration. Sources (other stuffed): Statistics Institute of Catalonia; Statistics Institute of Galicia; Basque Statistics Institute; Government of Wales; Central Statistics Office of Ireland, The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA); Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in Frissa.
In any case, these numbers of speakers should be taken with caution, as there are discrepancies between statistical agencies, knowledge and linguistic competence over the criteria used in defining each type of knowledge and some doubts about the reliability of some data.
Each community of speakers has been evaluated according to two variables (number and percentage), applying the Likert scale (1-5) according to the criteria presented in the table below.
- Combined scale of measurement of the speaking population
Number of speakers
Text value
Scale value 1-5
Very low
1
100,000 to 499,000
Low
2
500,000 - 999,000
Mean
3
1,000,000 - 1,999,000
Alto
4
> 2,000,000
Very high
5
% speaking
Text value
Scale value 1-5
<10%
Very low
1
10-24%
Low
2
25-49%
Mean
3
50-74%
Alto
4
<75%
Very high
5
Source: authors.
External factor 2: linguistic comprehension between languages.-
Concept called linguistic intelligibility between languages, used in sociolinguistics, (Charlotte Gooskens et al., 2018) is defined as the degree of intelligibility or intelligence possessed by both languages. In this study the main language (Spanish, English, for example) and the minority language (Basque, Galician, etc.) We"re talking about mutual intelligibility.
Therefore, operationally, it is considered that, if mutual understanding is high, the possibility of audience growth is also increased, since non-minority language speakers can also, at least in part, understand minority radio or television content.
Within the framework of this research project (UPV/EHU, Ref. : In another section, US17/21), focused on the study of metrics of television and radio audience, a clear correlation has been found between the percentages of television and radio audience and linguistic intelligibility between languages. A similar correlation, although less strongly, has also been found in the combined scale of speaking population (percentage and number of speakers) 3.
External factor 3: degree of competition between the media
It expresses the competence of other media that should support radios and televisions.
Internal factor 4: notoriety
It represents the public notoriety or notoriety of televisions or radios, that is, the degree of knowledge of them by users or viewers.
Internal factor 5: prestige
It refers to the public or social prestige of television or radio.
Internal factor 6: quality and variety of programming
Multiple programming and quality radio and television are evaluated.
Domestic factor 7: financing
It concerns the financing of radio and television stations. It is a key factor in providing good and varied programming to society and achieving audience. Objective and subjective criteria could be used in their evaluation. Among the objectives are the comparison of the budget with those of other public broadcasters and broadcasters in the main language. For this purpose, the economic density can be used as a reference or variable, i.e. the euros invested per inhabitant or speaker.
At European level, i.e. in the monolingual communication systems of the nine minority languages studied by the HEKA group (including press, radio and television), the economic density in 2015 was EUR 17 per inhabitant and EUR 82 per minority language speaker. Of course, the differences between linguistic communities were important. In the case of the Basque Country, the amount per inhabitant was 29 euros and that of each speaker was 97 euros (Zabaleta & Xamardo, 2022).
Internal factor 8: presence in social networks and nonlinear services
The presence of the media in social networks and nonlinear services is today an important factor to increase the audience and interaction.
- In total, seven televisions and seven radios have been investigated, one in each community. They"re all public, they have generalist programming and they reach the entire community. The list is as follows:
Result 1:
The professionals of the 33 academics and media involved in the construction of the General AGEE Index at European level have valued and coded, from their knowledge and perception, the importance and scope of these structural factors for the development and growth of the radio and television audience. Actually, seven of the eight structural factors have been coded. The exempt factor has been the combined dimension (number and percentage) of the minority speaking population, calculated by the authors themselves using the above references and method (see Table 3: combined scale of speaker measurement).
Therefore, the average of the encodings performed by the experts in each factor has been obtained and the IGAE General Index at European level has the following values:
- Sum of external factors: 11’6 points out of the 15 possible (3 factors per 5).
- Sum of internal factors: 21"6 points out of 25 possible (5 factors per 5).
- European Global IGAE Index: 33"2 points out of 40 possible.
This general index at European level (33’2 points) indicates that the radio or television that would obtain that score or its close value would be perfectly prepared for the proper development of their audience, that is, that their structural situation would be appropriate for the number or size of the audience to be relevant, at least from the point of view of these eight structural factors.
With regard to the value and soundness of the European global index, it should be noted that the degree of agreement between academic and professional experts has been very high in the seven structural factors coded by themselves.
-
- To analyze and weigh the interpretative scales and IGAE intervals of each radio and television regarding European IGAE, the following interpretation and correlation scales are established, maintaining the consistency of methods.
- Interpretative scales of the EVAE Index for radio and television
1
Very low
0-19%
0"0-2"2"
0"0-4"2
0"0-6"5
2
Low
20-39%
2"3-4"5
4"3-8"5
6´6-13´2
3
Mean
40-59%
4"6-6"9
8"6-12"9
13"3-19"8
4
Alto
60-79%
7"0-9"2
13"0-17"3
19"9-26"5
5
Very high
80-100%
9´3-11´6
17"3-21"6
26´6-33´2
A) Scale (1-5 points)
B) Text scale
C) Mean range of scales (%) (11’6 pt. maximum)
D) Ranges of external factors in the European CEA (11’6 pt. maximum)
E) Internal factor rating ranges in the European CEA index (21’6 pt. maximum)
E) Total European IGAE score ranges (33’2 pt. maximum)
Source: authors.
Result 2:
IGAE index for each television As indicated above, the population factor of speakers has been calculated objectively (scale 1-5), but the evaluation and codification of the other seven factors has been performed by the directors and editors of the television channels studied according to their professional criteria.
Of course, the authors of this research cannot ignore the subjective aspect present here and, to some extent, the directors have been able to evaluate the situation of their television in a more positive way. However, recognition of ethics is taken into account.
With these considerations, the IGAE indices of the seven TVs can be summarised as follows:
-
-
- Very high CEA index (80-100% of the European Reference Index): Television stations in Catalonia, Galicia, Frisia and the Basque Country have a very high IGAE index.
- High CEA index (60-79% of the European reference index): Television stations in Ireland and Wales have a high EGEE index.
- Average CEA index (40-59% of the European Reference Index): Scottish television BBC Alba has an average EGEE index.
-
- IGAE index and comparison of each television with the European General Index IGAE
European General IGAE Index
4.4
3.4
3.8
11.6
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.5
4.2
21.6
33.2
100%
Very high rate (80-79%)
Catalonia (TV3)
5
4
1
10.0
5
5
5
4
4
23.0
33.0
99%
Galicia (TVG)
5
4
1
10.0
5
4
5
3
5
22.0
32.0
96%
Frisia (Omrop Fryslân)
3
4
1
8.0
5
4
4
3
4
20.0
28.0
84%
Euskadi (ETB1)
3.5
1
1
5.5
4
5
4
4
5
22.0
27.5
83%
High index (60-79%)
Ireland (TG4)
3
1
1
5.0
4
4
4
4
2
18.0
23.0
69%
Wales (S4C)
3
1
1
5.0
4
4
4
1
4
18.0
23.0
69%
Average rate (40-59%)
Scotland (BBC ALBA)
1
1
2
4.0 0.0
3
3
3
2
4
15.0
19.0
57%
F1: speakers
F2
F3 compet. (1)
Fac. External
F4: notorie.
F5: prestige
F6: prog quality
F7: financial.
F8: Fac. Social Interior + Non-Linear
Fac. Interior
INDICE TV
INDICE TV vs. European Index
external factors
(maximum 15 points)
internal factors
(maximum 25 points)
Source: authors. Note: (1) The scale of media competition should be interpreted in reverse (very high competition = 1 point; very low = 5 points) arguing that a higher audience can be achieved if competition between the media is lower.
Result 3:
The AGEE indices of the seven broadcasters can be summarized as follows:
-
-
- Very high CEA index (80-100% of the European Reference Index): the radios of the three communities (Catalonia, Galicia and Frisia) have a very high CEA index, as has happened on television.
- High CEA index (60-79% of the European Reference Index): the radios of the three communities (Euskadi, Ireland and Wales) have a high CEA index.
- Average CEA index (40-59% of the European Reference Index): BBC ALBA Radio nan Gaidheal, from Scotland, has a medium IGAE index.
-
- AGEE index and comparison of each radio with the European General AGEE Index
European General IGAE Index
4.4
3.4
3.8
11.6
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.5
4.2
21.6
33.2
100%
Very high rate (80-79%)
Catalonia (Catalunya Radio)
5.0
4
1
10.0
5
5
5
4
4
23.0
33.0
99%
Galicia (Radio Galega)
5.0
4
1
10.0
4
4
5
4
5
22.0
32.0
96%
Frisia (Omrop Fryslân)
3.0
4
1
8.0
5
4
4
3
3
19.0
27.0
81%
High index (60-79%)
Euskadi (ETB1)
3.5
1
1
5.5
4
4
4
3
5
20.0
25.5
7%
Ireland (RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta)
3
1
2
5.0
5
4
4
4
4
21.0
26.0
78%
Wales (BBC Radio Cymru)
3
1
3
5.0
4
4
4
2
4
19.0
26.0
78%
Average rate (40-59%)
Scotland (BBC Radio nan Gaidheal)
1.0
1
2
4.0 0.0
3
3
3
2
3
14.0
18.0
54%
F1: speakers
F2
F3 compet. (1)
Fac. External
F4: notorie.
F5: prestige
F6: prog quality
F7: financial.
F8: Fac. Social Interior + Non-Linear
Fac. Interior
external factors
(maximum 15 points)
internal factors
(maximum 25 points)
RADIO INDEX
radio index vs. European index
Source: authors. Note: (1) The scale of media competition should be interpreted in reverse (very high competition = 1 point; very low = 5 points) arguing that a higher audience can be achieved if competition between the media is lower.
Conclusions
-
-
- Conclusions on television. Televisions of the four communities (Catalonia, Galicia, Friesland and Euskadi) have a very high IGAE index, which indicates, or can be interpreted, that they are well prepared to develop and increase the number of hearings, potentially gutxienez.Zehazkiago, in the case of Catalan, Galician and Frisian television, at least in part, this result is due to the fact that in two of the three external factors Conversely, in ETB1, the understanding between languages is very low and therefore has a negative impact on their IGAE Index. However, the Basque television index is very high, thanks to the high strength and appreciation of its internal structural factors.Below, with a high IGAE index, are the televisions of Ireland and Wales. Here too, two external structural factors (the intelligibility between languages and the speaking population) and some internal structural factors such as financing have a negative impact.Finally, the Scottish television BBC ALBA, influenced by external and internal structural factors, is on the average index level. Among the former is the low value of intelligibility between languages and the low population of Scottish Gaelic speakers. Structural internal factors also include a relatively low level of funding.
- Conclusions on radio. Here, from the laughter of the three communities (Catalonia, Galicia and Frisia) have a very high IGAE index and, as it has been written for television, this result reinforces the sense of interpretation, that is, that these radios are structurally very well to be able to count on a significant number and percentage of audience, at least potentially. In fact, their popular weekly reach or cumulative audience ranges from 11 to 17%, while high-index broadcasters ona.AGEE come from three communities (Euskadi, Ireland and Wales). A distinction must be made here. The estimated weekly reach or cumulative audience of Euskadi Irratia is 9.6%, considering that its external structural factors are not the most appropriate. Conversely, radios in Ireland and Wales, in a similar situation, have an estimated weekly reach of between 2 and 6%, somewhat low.On the other hand, it should be noted that while ETB1 has a very high IGAE index, Euskadi Irratia has a high IGAE index. In external structural factors the values are equal (5’5 points in total), but the difference has occurred in internal factors, where ETB1 has 22 points and Euskadi Irratia 20. In particular, Euskadi Irratia has obtained fewer points in the factors of prestige and funding (the evaluator’s opinion), which has caused its IGAE index to be high and not very high. But it doesn"t really have a significant impact, because Euskadi Irratia has good audience data.Finally, with the average IGAE index is the Scottish broadcaster BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. As on television, the important reasons are the very low intelligibility between Scottish Gaelic and English and the low number of Scottish Gaelic speakers.
- Final thoughts. The research project that follows this article has created and constructed with sense and method the instrument, the IGAE Index, to measure the structural adequacy of minority language radios and televisions, in order to achieve the development of the audience. The opinions, contributions and codifications of academic experts and media professionals have ensured both the formulation of indices and the value of the European General Index IGAE, giving scores to structural factors (except for the speaking population factor, as indicated). On the other hand, the AGEE Index of each television and radio has been evaluated by the directors of said radios and television, in part, subjectivity has influenced and there may be differences. This information is on the first occasion. But for the next time, it would be better for independent expert panels to evaluate each radio and television.Looking ahead, with the necessary methodological adaptations and elaborations, the ESA Index could be used in the analysis of other types of minority language media and platforms.
-
Bibliographic references
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Zabaleta, I., & Xamardo, N. (2022). Economy and funding of European minority language media: Reality and impact of digitalization and economic crisis. Journalism, 23(5), 1149-1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920954039
1 Reference of this study: “Radio and television audiences in minority European languages: reality, strategies and challenges”. Under the “University-Society” research programme (Ref. : US17/21).
2 In English: Structural Suitability Index for Audience Development in Minority Language Radio and TV. Spanish: Audiency Development of Structure Adaptation Structure in Radio and TV Languages. French: Structure du développement de l’audience de radio et télévision language minoritaire.
3 The televisions of Catalonia, Galicia and Frisia, with medium combined high and very high levels of linguistic intelligibility between languages, and of the speaking population, have a share percentage between 10 and 15%, quite high. Conversely, television stations in the Basque Country, Ireland and Wales, with a low and very low combined average between linguistic intelligibility and the population of speakers between languages, have comparatively low share or audience share: Between 1-3%. A similar correlation has also been observed in most radio stations between their estimated weekly share of reach and the two factors mentioned. See URL 3