Major trends worldwide have continued throughout 2019, but it has been a special year for the popular initiative media in Basque. After three years of work with the main public institutions of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa in developing a new funding framework, a new grant model has finally been agreed and launched for the period 2019-2021. The main objective of this new model is to ensure the stability of the sector, so the amount of aid has been calculated taking into account the needs of the media themselves. Of course, this new model is based on the recognition of the contribution of the Basque media to the normalization process of the Basque Country during all these years and on the need to guarantee this strategic contribution in the future. Although these have been elements of improvement, this new model will represent an important step towards ensuring the stability of the sector.
A YEAR OF GENERAL GROWING TREND
Moreover, during 2019 there has been a progressive increase in dominant trends in previous years. The digitalization process continues to advance along with different technological advances, consumption habits and audiences are changing, the growth of streaming platforms in the audiovisual field seems unstoppable… Profound transformations are taking place in the field of communication and changes are increasingly rapid. For example, the first steps are already being taken in the expansion of 5g, we have already entered the door of the house a technology that will bring even deeper transformations.
Accelerating the digitisation process
The digitalization process continues and the transformations that have occurred in the field of communication in 2019 have not been entirely important. We are seeing that digitization affects the entire production system, there are changes in the contents (language, extension…), in the supports and in the roles of professionals. Experts are increasingly talking about multitasing. The journalist should be responsible for writing well and correctly, but also for capturing images, recording, embedding content in digital media or disseminating them. Hearings are also undergoing profound change, more and more people are consuming content via mobile and, of course, businesses are undergoing change, not least because they have to introduce the digital environment into their newsrooms. Finally, as far as funding is concerned, there has also been a dramatic change because much of the advertising has moved to platforms such as Facebook or Google and therefore it is increasingly difficult to ensure the viability of projects.
In 2019, several media outlets have closed their doors or fired their workers. In France, for example, the historic newspaper L’Humanité, born at the beginning of the last century (1904), suspended payments in early 2019. The publication had about 200 workers, more than half journalists, and launched a subscription campaign to advance the project. In the RTVE Public Group there were strikes for lack of technicians, because the gaps (diseases, retirements, transfers…) were not covered. In the Catalan countries, the Newspaper of Catalonia, which accumulated debts annually, was purchased by the Prensa Ibérica group.
But transformations are not limited to classic media, digital media also have difficulty finding an appropriate business model that is essential to ensure the viability of projects. In early 2019, it was known that the major digital media in the United States would launch hundreds of employees, including the Facebook algorithm change. In fact, Facebook changed its algorithm to prioritize content created and shared by citizens, indirectly eliminating the visibility of digital media. Consequently, media traffic has been significantly reduced and they do not get so much money from advertising.
As has been said, consumption habits are also being transformed and with them the audiences of the different media. In 2019 there is an increase in these global trends, with an increasing consumption of content from the mobile phone, a progressive increase in subscriptions to streaming platforms, a growing supply and demand of audiovisual content, etc.
All of them, but they are already known problems or challenges, and when we have not overcome them, we get news. For example, the term ‘writing robots’ is increasingly being heard, and what many consider a dystopian future is already a reality in many of the world’s media. In 2016, the well-known The Washington Post launched a short news writing system called Heliograf, and in early 2019, Forbes magazine launched an artificial intelligence system called Bertie. He does not write full articles but prepares sketches for journalists to complete. Moreover, an algorithm allows adapting sketches to the tastes of readers.
Also in the field of neural translators are taking giant steps and very soon three projects have been presented, Elhuyar has presented the translator .eus, Vicomtech batua. For the time being, open versions only allow short texts to be translated, but the technology is there and you get very high quality translations. Companies already use this technology to translate entire websites and/or long publications and media opportunities in Basque as well as risks.
Progress is also being made in the field of voice. The auxiliary voice, for example, is rapidly spreading to different areas, from mobile phones to homes or cars. In a short time, different multinationals have put their collaborating voices on the market (Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant...) or their devices (Amazon Echo, Home Pod, Google Home...). New opportunities are opening up, but in the case of minority languages the risks are greater than the opportunities. These systems are prepared for hegemonic languages and (at the moment) there are no versions in Basque. The Librezale group convened a digital boom in April with this aim, but the institutions will also have to do something in this area. As long as this does not happen, we will have a new space in which the Basque country cannot be used, a great space that will become increasingly important, with all that this implies.
In a context in which digitization has left us many problems or challenges to be overcome, the world of technology is at full speed and new challenges arise from day to day. Tests and tests must be carried out and, when it is right to go ahead, re-test and be able to move forward as far as possible, but at the same time, public institutions must also make use of the rules. It is essential that all these multinationals be given the necessary steps to establish and enforce the linguistic criteria, as they will not do so by themselves or in their interest.
Proliferation of audiovisual platforms
In this particular context, the consumption of audio-visual via streaming platforms is increasing. More and more people subscribe to these platforms and the weight of streaming video in all network traffic is higher. Instead of being reduced or stabilized, it is a growing trend, everything points to it coming to an end. According to the company’s annual report Sandvine, 58% of total internet traffic was absorbed by streaming services, in 2019 this percentage reaches almost 61%, with Netflix and Youtube being the main ones responsible for this spectacular rate.
However, companies that have captured many customers in recent years and are already stabilized (Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime...) are adding news (Disney, Apple, Sky, Movistar...), which makes the competition for maintaining/attracting customers huge. If by the end of 2019 Netflix had 183 million subscriptions worldwide, the Amazon Prime service had about 150 million and the HBO almost another, about 140 million. The Disney+ platform, launched in November 2019, won 50 million subscribers in a few months and 30 million Apple TV+ services.
These services are not only a platform to offer content, but also producers or studies to generate content, especially the larger ones. Netflix, for example, took steps in 2019 to strengthen the generation of its own content. In March it opened its first European production centre in Madrid. The residence is 22,000 square meters and will produce different contents for Europe. To ensure this production, the number of workers will double and the figures are significant: If the staff who worked in June in Madrid for Netflix was 13,000, by the end of 2019 it was almost double, about 25,000.
To address these major international trends, different initiatives have been presented throughout 2019. The British public network BBC and the independent content distributor ITV came together to face the Netflix platform. The ITV was born to compete with the BBC, but now they have seen it essential to join forces. Many such movements can be observed in different countries. In our environment, television channels and/or telephone companies are becoming, in addition to content distributors, content generators (Movistar, Atresmedia, Mediapro…). The latter, Mediapro, has become a study in 2019, which will strengthen its headquarters in New York and will produce more than 30 series to offer its productions and others in the payment platform Mi Tele Plus.
As can be seen, the dominance of streaming platforms has also increased in 2019 and new actors are being incorporated into this field of play. However, the supply in Euskera is very scarce, practically zero, in that variety as wide as it had never been. Netflix offers four or five movies and the rest a little more. The independent Catalan platform Filmin has a somewhat larger offer in Basque, but only one drop is audiovisual in the open sea. The offer in Basque cannot be limited to this film which is regularly held in Basque. It is thus impossible to compete with hegemonic languages.
The Basque language on Netflix conference of Katixa Agirre, held in Frisia in May, was interesting. He stressed the importance of offering content in Basque on international platforms such as Netflix, among other reasons for the spectacularity of language. This is the case and it is important to maintain this path, but it is not enough. Beyond the increase in Basque content (films, series, documentaries, etc.) on platforms like Netflix, what is vital to the Basque normalization process is the Basque offer of the most well-known international productions. One does not take away the other, but the second is the most effective and therefore a priority, and to this end we must strengthen — not weaken, as has been done in recent years — duplication. Unfortunately, the year 2019 has not been a significant change in this area, as it doubles very little in Basque and it does not seem that in the short term we will return to the number of hours that were once doubled in Basque.
First steps in 5G technology deployment
The 5G technology, which has been developed before, has also experienced a remarkable boost in 2019: more and more phones and devices accept 5G technology, many TV channels have started to perform the first tests with 5G, many important events or events have started to broadcast via 5G. For example, TV3 issued the 2019 dyad with 5G technology.
5g technology is already among us and will become widespread in two or three years. It is urgent, as a people and from the linguistic point of view, to open a debate on this issue and begin to influence the establishment of measures that guarantee the minimum contents in Basque.
So far there have been frequent clashes between different countries and technology multinationals to control the development of this technology. The two major economic and military powers in the world, the USA and China, are in full economic and technological conflict, in which each of them uses its own allies and technology companies. This conflict has emerged in 2019. 5It seems that Ga is going to be a great revolution in all areas and that is why it is so important to control both the technology itself (the devices) and its deployment (the antennas).
This technology will greatly accelerate the speed of the Internet network, enabling a number of hitherto impossible activities to be carried out over the Internet. Since latency or delay will be very small, it is expected that areas such as the Internet of Things will develop greatly. It also appears that the Internet connection will become widespread in cars and in the various modes of transport in general. Among other things, experts point out that this technology will lead to significant growth and expansion of audiovisual media, especially of increasingly used mobiles.
From Euskal Herria and specifically from the Basque normalization process, like all technological developments, 5G offers its risks and opportunities. In a conference organized in October by the Ezkerraberri Foundation, university professor Enric Marin i Otto made these opportunities and risks very clear. Almost all the content that will be generated in the future will be disseminated via the 5G network and the existing broadcasting systems will lose importance (Digital Terrestrial Television, FM/AM radio frequencies…). So far, television and/or radio licences are regulated and, beyond the basic competence of the states, they are regulated by the autonomous communities. Although very limited, the Autonomous Communities have been able to guarantee a minimum supply of Basque. However, all these content will be disseminated through the network of telephone operators and the competition to regulate them (competition to regulate radio space) is exclusively for the States. And as Enric himself rightly said, without competence we cannot negotiate with multinationals.
The European Union wants to offer the States the possibility of regulating a minimum content of their own production or of their own creation in their own language, but this does not guarantee anything in the countries where more than one language is used, and less in a case like ours, when Spain prioritizes and protects Spanish and French. This issue should be closely monitored and, as far as possible, motivate public institutions to adopt measures to speed up the process of normalization of the Basque country.
Insufficient with ‘Fake news’ and now with ‘Deep fake’
As in previous years, there have also been eye-catching episodes in 2019 related to fake news or news, and many of them are already scammers that have become apparent in recent years (Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Mahuel Maciel, Jayson Blair, Claas Relotius…). However, the ‘Fake News’ released in 2019 by Fito Rodríguez are not as reminiscent of us yesterday morning, beyond individual scammers, the use of lies is very old and is not limited to journalism. Efforts to prevent such fraud are certainly not new either, but the deployment of social networks requires new measures or means.
In the mass media, the so-called fact-checking or social debunking are used, the first to check the data or facts offered in official sources and the second to ensure the truthfulness of the contents disseminated on social networks. The largest media have work teams of eleven people to do this, although, as has been seen, these media are sometimes not effective. In Der Spiegel, for example, they say that there are more than 50 people engaged in verification, but nevertheless, the ‘star’ journalist Claas Relotius unabated dozens of reports invented for years.
However, as we have said, the problem of fake news is not limited to star journalists who want fame or prizes. Unfortunately, the problem is more general and pressing, as more and more people become the main and/or only sources of information.
At the international level, initiatives are multiplying to try to limit the spread of false news. The IFCN (International Fact-Checking Network) group was established in 2015 and in 2016 the European Commission launched an ILG expert group. More and more initiatives and/or partnerships between different media are also being heard. At p. 24-media in Brazil created the Commitments project, and closer to the initiatives and/or agencies specializing in fact-checking. Google and Facebook are also taking steps to limit the fake content that is disseminated daily on their social networks, but to the extent that their main goal is to make money, they are not interested in the excessive control of their users.
In any case, all this effort is not enough and the road is bringing new risks. In 2019 we have known systems that allow to replace in a video the image of one person with that of another, or, in an audio, the voice of a given person. Now that we are engaged in limiting and marginalizing fake news, we get a deep fake or deep fake.
Demonstration systems for unhandled media are also being developed at the same time, but verification processes will always take longer and will often be too late when it is proven that the content disseminated is false, as the damage is already done.
To conclude this section, a passage that could be a simple curiosity but that makes us think it has been and is a widespread practice. In May, in a popular Onda Cero program in Spain, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the Spanish politician, referred to the habit of calling journalists to fight when he did not like anything and so stated by the other journalists present. Moreover, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, the former Vice-Presidents and some ministers in Spain also expressed the habit of convening judges. An illustrative example of widespread practice among some leaders (and journalists).
Journalistic attacks
Unfortunately, also in 2019 we have heard of various journalistic and journalistic attacks. At the beginning of the year Google interrupted its accounts to the television networks Hispan TV and Press TV (Gmail, Youtube…) claiming that they “violated the rules” and, once again, demonstrating the power of the technological giant to condition the work of the media and limit the dissemination of content. Closer, in the Spanish state, the ultra-right party Vox announced the closure of several television channels, including autonomous public televisions. In this regard, the statements of right-wing politicians like Donald Trump against the media are well known and, among others, Journalists Without Borders have warned that in the United States death threats against journalists are increasing.
On the other hand, the Spanish Government has not repealed the law and there are thousands of fines and/or penalties imposed under those regulations. Although both the Basque Parliament and the Parliament of Navarre have requested the repeal of this law, the Ertzaintza and the Foral Police resort to this rule and there are many citizens and/or journalists sanctioned. However, in 2019 we have known some small victories. In April a judge decided to cancel the fine of 602 euros imposed by the Ertzaintza on a journalist from Hala Bedi for revealing the drainage operation of the Errekaleor neighbourhood.
But an issue in which journalists themselves have been aggressors has also erupted in 2019. The Ligue du LOL is a group of female journalists, feminists, black writers and gay men who for years were persecuted on social networks through anonymous profiles and who in February 2019 has been known. These include some of the most prestigious French journalists and the affair has caused a great earthquake in the French media. Despite the fact that the vast majority have been dismissed from the media in which they worked, some of those responsible for some redactions were aware of what some of their journalists were doing since 2010.
Already at the end of the year, in October, the Barcelona Electoral Board lifted the dust of the bans on journalists from TV3 and Catalunya Radio. On campaign days until the elections on 10 November, journalists could not use the words ‘political prisoners’, ‘exile’ or ‘president in exile’. The Electoral Board ' s action led to the absolute rejection of Catalan journalists ' organizations and workers ' representatives, but the Board did not withdraw. It is not the first time that the electoral board has imposed such bans on the Catalan public group. In the previous two years it has set similar limits in the election campaigns and in the same month of July it sanctioned TV3 with EUR 1,200 for issuing a documentary on independence prisoners during the voting period.
CONTEXT OF THE BASQUE MEDIA
As noted above, 2019 has been an important year for the Basque media, due, among other reasons, to the implementation of a new three-year funding framework agreed with the main institutions of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Considering that in paragraph 12 of this Yearbook you can read two articles dealing specifically with this topic and not repeat the explanations, other aspects related to the sector are listed below.
Impact of Basque media in 2019
Firstly, the question of Basque radio licences. In the allocation of frequencies under the presidency of Patxi López there were errors and some unawarded licenses. The judges justified some media that later adopted the storage channel (radio Antxeta, radio Naiz…), but others that did not use the channel were left unlicensed. The years have passed and the new government has awarded the licenses that remained outstanding in 2019, and among others two projects have been approved in Euskera, the Basque broadcaster Hala Bedi Bi of Vitoria-Gasteiz and the association for the promotion of Basque radio Uribe Kosta. The issue of radio Bilbo Hiria (one of the two licenses awarded to the SER to offer radio in Basque in Bilboaldea) has not yet been clarified, and the issue of community non-profit radios will also have to be clarified, but in general it can be said that in 2019 the issue that began seven years earlier is over.
New projects have also been born throughout 2019, after the aforementioned Naiz test station started its daily broadcasts in May and in Iparralde, Baja Navarra, Amikuze"s radio turned its first year. Also, after several years of independent work, Bizkaia Irratia and Herri Irratia of the diocese of Bilbao have decided to unify headquarters, address, etc. The first is dedicated exclusively to the Basque language, but the second is not and the fusion, among other things, will make it possible to offer more contents in Basque in Herri Irratia. Since 2017, broadcaster Esan Erran from Basaburua resumed broadcasts from Monday to Friday, at 10:00 hours, offering a magazine with news and interviews from the region and completing the rest of the programming with programs from the Arrosa network. Moreover, at the end of the year, the broadcaster Antxeta Irratia started its broadcasts in the four capitals of Hego Euskal Herria, since at the beginning of the year it obtained, in addition to the licence to issue in Donostialdea, the authorization to issue in Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pamplona.
The Arrosa network, which brings together 23 broadcasters from the seven countries of the Basque Country, organised in March meetings in Urretxu on the challenges of the future and called on Basque broadcasters who are not yet members of the network to join it. Moreover, during the Korrika direct connections were offered from the van that continues the popular race.
It is clear that radio is an emerging medium and in 2019 this trend has been accentuated in the field of Basque communication. New radio stations are created and older ones are renewed. In addition, more and more media outlets have decided to add podcasts to their regular offer. The Zuzeu portal, for example, has offered four weekly podcast sessions during 2019: At the meeting called Bipareta, the table focused on the round table with three journalists (two journalists: the Zuzeu Introducers and one of the other media). Meanwhile, in the so-called “We Are Inside”, Oier Arantzabal has entered a character’s home weekly with the intention of conducting a long and dense interview. The third podcast program, titled in 10 minutes, has been directed by Professor Maite Goñi and for about ten minutes has addressed issues related to technology and education. The fourth is the so-called Basque Offender and carried out with the collaboration of the Association of Basque Dukes, which offers reports of crimes in the dramatic Basque history. All these podcasts have also been exposed on the most widely used international platforms, such as Spotify, Google, iTunes, etc. The Puneus association, previously known, participated in Sarea with the collaboration of Euskadi Irratia, and in 2019 the Etzi.pm initiative launched the Gramophone program. For the second consecutive year, Urnieta hosted the Euskalpod meeting of podcast creators and listeners and other programs of humor, technology, audiovisual, free radios, etc. The AEK created and extended the podcast called Elevator in May 2019 and Berria has recently bet on podcasts, both thematic (feminist podcast, musical…) and columnares (Kirmen Uribe, Ane Irazabal). And the podcasts of the Light are also online, pieces that reveal all kinds of themes from the hand of the journalists of the Light. It is clear that podcasts were reinforced in 2019 and the trend seems to be on the rise.
As in previous years, the media in Basque have collaborated on specific topics or events in 2019. A number of Basque media have followed the Korrika and offered the start and the end live. In addition, media collaborations have been carried out around the San Sebastian Film Festival or around other specific initiatives or events, without any significant novelty or progress in this area.
As could not be otherwise, throughout the year several media have taken steps to improve their supply. At the beginning of the year the portal hitz.eus and the websites of regional words were renewed to facilitate their usability. Besides strengthening the multimedia section, they created a specific section for the interlocutors and incorporated an advanced search engine into the websites. In addition to the agenda of events of the area in each region, greeting sections and corners have been included.
In February, Alea Alavesa launched a new website that, among other things, prepared him to be more useful on mobile phones, as more and more visits reach him on mobile phone (40% in 2016 versus 65% in 2016).
The Tolosa portal also reinforced the website and the multimedia section with the aim of reaching more public and especially younger people. After five years, the number 1,000 was published in February.
Eleven television companies broadcast the Hezur memory program throughout 2019. One of the most important collections of documents and audiovisual testimonies in the history of the historical memory of Navarra. Information and testimonies about the Franco coup d"état and the hard years after, divided into 32 sections.
The weekly Argia celebrated 100 years in 2019 and throughout the year organized different commemorative events of the centenary. In May, in order to deepen the Basque journalism Argia 2019-2019, the Zeruko Lurrekora cycle was organized and in October the festival of the centenarians. But before, in January, like every year, the Argia Awards were given, which were awarded by the radio program Xamar Euskal Herria, by the photojournalist Gari Garaialde in the press for seeing the reality of migration, by the documentary Gurean for the rights of animals Askekintza in the audio-visual, by the newspaper Berria in the Internet for the violence map of the study.
In March, members of the UPV/EHU Group for Journalism and Media Research in European Minority Languages (HEKA) presented their research on media in minority languages at the annual congress of the American Association of Applied Linguistics in Atlanta, USA. As they explained, across Europe there are 1,070 media outlets in their own language and 4,800 full-time journalists. In the case of Euskal Herria, among others, 577 journalists were registered in the Basque media, that is, one journalist for every 2,000 Basque speakers (one journalist for every 2,500 inhabitants in Catalonia). In addition, they stressed that the media in Basque are an important sector, with annual revenues according to the study of 103 million euros (including ETB 1). Details of the research can be read extensively in the last article of this Yearbook.
On the other hand, the Teknopolis program, co-produced in 2019 by ETB and Elhuyar, turned 20 years old and it was possible to read interesting reflections both on social networks and in various media in Basque. It has been a program that, over the years, has been able to adapt to different situations and receptors, has worked science and/or technology in an attractive way and in Euskera, becoming over the years a reference. Now that the world of communication is moving forward and they say that we have to do tests on television quickly and with few resources, it is clear that on public television in Euskera the audience cannot be the only criterion for putting or removing programs, because there are bets that need a time to walk their way and get their audience, like the Teknopolis program.
Finally, this section of the Basque media cannot be closed without mentioning the Egunean Behin project, which has become a phenomenon in 2019. In fact, Once a day is not a means of communication, it is a tribial game for mobile phones, but it has become an excellent example of the ability of an app or gamification to create and disseminate content in Basque. The first season had 10,000 users, after the summer it reached 45,000 and at the end of the year it was 60,000. When opportunities are offered to express themselves in Euskera and in Euskal Herria in a fun way, the recipients thank them and take advantage of them. Digitisation offers not only risks, but opportunities, and the key is its correct use.
Many Basque media outlets have improved and renewed their portals, formats and/or content, some have launched channels of Telegram and Instagram and, as mentioned, podcasts have launched or expanded their offer. In this sense, the Basque media are not standing, they are taking steps and that is a satisfaction, because this world of communication is speeding up and nobody can stay “right here”.
On the other hand, in 2019 there have also been changes in other minority languages in Europe. Some for better and others for worse. For example, in Galicia, thanks to a popular subscription campaign, a newspaper was created that will be dedicated exclusively to Galician women and the newborn has completed his first year of life.
In Scotland, on the contrary, the BBC public broadcaster launched a new television channel in English, which has given rise to concern in the movement for the recovery of Gaelic, as the BBC Alba, which broadcasts mostly bilingual, faces the risk of losing its audience. If we bear in mind that the BBC Alba television channel is a joint BBC and MG Alba channel, it is not very clear what the BBC is aiming for with this new bet. The new chain will have a hegemonic language, more budget and fewer repetitions: The budget of EUR 37 million and 50% of the programming hours will complete it with repetitions while the BBC Alba will complete the budget of EUR 15 million and 74% of the hours with repetitions.
In the Catalan countries, in 2019 they closed the television channel of the Catalan newspaper El Ptui Avui and the 11 people who were dismissed. The decision was made to reorganize the group and adapt to the new economic context.
Seminar on media in minority languages in Edinburgh
A seminar on media in minority languages was held in October 2019, organised by the Etxepare Institute and the University of Edinburgh, attended, inter alia, by the Basque Media Observatory. Behategi"s coordinator, Libe Mimenza, besides presenting what the observatory is and the lines it works, also explained the media ecosystem in Basque.
Other experts and international rapporteurs included more Basque representatives. For his part, Josu Amezaga, of the Research Group Nor of the UPV/EHU, explained in recent decades the evolution of the hearings of the Basque media, and the professors of the same research group Edorta Arana and Bea Narbaiza talked about the audiovisual consumption in Basque of university students.
But the Basque delegation did not end there. Joseba Fernández de Landa, Rodrigo Agerri and Iñaki Alegría, from the UPV, explained how we use Twitter the younger and older Basques. Enara Eizagirre of the Aztiker Research Center … Eta kitto! presented the results of the media survey. Jaione Diaz of the University of Maryland reflected on identity from the Basque community of Idaho. Itziar Azpeitia, from EiTB, spoke about audiovisual in Basque and the challenges of television in the digital age. Aida Vallejo and Amaia Nerekan of the UPV/EHU spoke about the possibilities and obstacles that the Euskal Herria Film Festival has for films in Basque. Elizabete Manterola and Ana Tamayo Handia from the same university talked about the challenge of translation in a multilingual film. And finally, Urtzi Urrutikoetxea talked about foreign fiction in minority languages.
Congress of local media in the Catalan countries
After the organization, in collaboration with the AMIC, organization of the media of the Catalan countries, of the Inter-Pyrenean Congress of the Nearby Media, the conference was finally held in October at La Seu d’Urgell. At the congress, which was attended by a large representation of the media and institutions of the Basque Country, we were able to learn and present our different experiences.
First, the coordinator of the Basque Media Observatory, Libe Mimenza, presented the cartography of the media in Basque and the director of Promotion of the Basque Government, Estibaliz Alkorta, spoke of public aid to the media in Basque. On the other hand, Pello Urzelai of BERRIA spoke of his new metric system and Iraitz Elgezabal, Tokikom’s commercial director, spoke of the Basque PMP project.
And Ready! The journal"s coordinator, Ana Aizpurua, explained the work of local economic and social dynamization and Josu Azpilhgh,project manager of CodeSyntax, explained the Hekimen Analytics project. Next, the editor-in-chief of Basque Radio, José Luis Aizpuru, spoke of his penetration experience and the audiovisual director of Jourgoiena Oihane Almoalig Aguirre. Finally, Xabier Saralegi, representative of Elhuyar, presented an automatic measurement system for the presence of women in the media.
It was a very enriching experience, because in addition to learning a lot and teaching something, we had the opportunity to meet new people and projects and to relate. Both AMIC and Hekimen intended to celebrate two years, that is, in 2021, the second edition of the congress, yes, now in Euskal Herria.
Summary of what has been done so far in 2019, both internationally and in Basque communication. Not all the facts have been mentioned, but all those mentioned. As you can see, the area of Basque communication is alive, but the challenges we face are not of all kinds and we should devote a space to meeting, reflecting, dialogue and consensus on spaces or projects of collaboration. At Hekimen, among other things, we are working on this and we will soon take further steps in this field.