The Basque Country (pdf, 4,3Mb) - Kultura Saila - Euskadi.net

In addition to music, some radio stations broadcast information
related to immigration: Radio Tropical and Radio Candela, among
others. The stations that broadcast in Iparralde are Xiberoko
Botza (Maule), Irulegiko Irratia and Gure Irratia (Baiona).
In television, Spanish stations, both private (Tele5, Antena3, Canal+)
and public (TVE channels 1 and 2) capture around 75% of the audience.
According to CIES, the station with the highest overall audience
average in 2006 was Tele 5 (720,000), followed by ETB 2 (625,000).
ETB1, which broadcasts in Euskara, had an overall audience average
of 186,000. Local or regional television stations include Tele Bilbao,
Canal Bizkaia, Bilbovisión, Tele Donosti, Localia, Canal Gasteiz and
Goiena, accounting for a total audience of 185,000. Canal 4 and Canal
6 are private channels licensed to broadcast TDT in Navarre. There
is also a cable network offered by the Basque telecommunications
operator Euskaltel. In 2006 an estimated 48.5% of the population over
the age of 14 had access to the Internet.
In Navarre overall television audiences for 2006 – according
to the CIES survey – were as follows: Tele 5, 191,000; TVE 1,
169,000; Antena 3, 181,000; ETB 2, 83,000; TVE channel 2,
40,000; Canal 6, 25,000; Canal 4, 30,000; ETB 1, 27,000; Cuatro,
40,000; Canal +, 13,000. The two TVE channels were the leaders
(209,000), followed by the Spain-wide private stations. The
two ETB channels (public television broadcast from a different
autonomous community) accounted for a viewership of 112,000
and together are the fourth in overall viewer audience, significantly
ahead of the privately-own Navarre stations.
8.6.5. Euskara and communication
The Basque language is present, although not widespread, in
the written press (3% of daily distribution comes from Berria and
local inserts). Around 10% of radio broadcasting in Euskadi is
in Euskara, with an overall audience of some 200,000 listeners.
Few radio stations broadcast in Basque (Euskadi Irratia, Euskadi
Gaztea for younger audiences –both part of the EITB network–
and other small private stations –Herri Irratia, Bizkaia Irratia– and
community radio). The presence of Euskara among privatelyowned
FM stations is virtually non-existent.
As for television, apart from a few local TV stations (Goiena, etc.),
only ETB 1 broadcasts in Basque, capturing approximately 6-7%
of the total television audience.
The presence of Euskara in the media is much more limited than
the actual use of the language in society. It is discriminated against
in the market since media organisations prefer using Spanish, a
language that is understood by everyone. However, Euskara has
a greater presence in a number of local magazines and television
stations. To help balance the situation, the new decree on local
Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) promotes the use of Euskara
by establishing a policy of quotas and channels.
8.7. Essayists, scientists and historical
figures
There are a number of Basques who have had an impact on culture
even beyond the borders of Euskal Herria.
8.7.1. Essayists and scientists
Martín de Azpilicueta (Barasoain, 1492-1586). Dominican from an
“Agramontes” family in the Baztan Valley, and known as Doctor Navarrus,
was one of the most important intellectuals of his time. Advisor to King
Philip II, he was a moralist (defended the legality of obtaining loans with
interest), jurist and economist, and uncle to Francisco Xabier.
Esteban de Garibay, born in Arrasate in 1566, made an early
and very important contribution to historical writing with his
Compendio historial de España. But it was in Navarre where some
of the most outstanding studies on early history were conducted.
Prince Charles of Viana himself researched the history of the
Navarrese monarchy, as did Pedro de Agramont and José de
Moret (seventeenth century) with their Anales del Reyno de
Navarra. Juan Huarte de San Juan wrote Examen de ingenios, a
treatise on practical psychology.
Brothers Fausto and Juan José Elhuyar were mineralogists in the
eighteenth century. The former served as general superintendent of
mines in Mexico and later as minister for the Spanish government,
and the latter was the first to isolate tungsten, or wolfram, and
study the treatment of mercury, silver and platinum.
The distinguished José Agustín Ibáñez de la Rentería (Bilbao
1750-Lekeitio, 1826) was a strong proponent of constitutionalism,
the separation of political powers, and the ideas of citizenship,
a limited state, and municipal liberties. He was the author of
Discursos y Memorial histórico (1798), the story of his experience
in the war against the French.
Even before Nicolás de Arriquivar, the well-known economist
from Bilbao, Navarre-born economist Jerónimo de Ustariz had
made a name for himself with his Teoría y práctica de Comercio
y Marina. Pascual Madoz (Pamplona, 1806-Genoa, 1870),
geographer, liberal politician and architect of the so-called
“disentailment of Madoz”, published a very meticulous work in
16 volumes called Diccionario geográfico de España.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was born in 1852 in Petilla de Aragón,
a Navarrese enclave in Aragon, and died in Madrid in 1934. He
was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1906 for his work
in histology.
71
Santiago Ramón y Cajal, 1906 Nobel
Prize Laureate in Medicine, giving a
class.
Joxe Miguel de Barandiaran (centre)
at the entrance of one of his
excavations.
Portrait of Julio Caro Baroja.