{"id":2818,"date":"2020-08-02T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2023-06-09T16:04:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T16:04:27","slug":"basque-fact-of-the-week-egunkaria-the-first-basque-only-daily-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2020\/08\/02\/basque-fact-of-the-week-egunkaria-the-first-basque-only-daily-newspaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Basque Fact of the Week: Egunkaria, the First Basque-Only Daily Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Today, if you go to the Basque Country, you will see Basque media pretty much everywhere. There is a Basque-language television station, a Basque newspaper (<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.berria.eus\">Berria<\/a><\/em>), Basque radio stations, and Basque magazines. There are bookstores full of books written in Euskara. However, the concept of a daily newspaper written entirely in Basque is relatively new. The publication of <em>Egunkaria<\/em> in 1990 changed the landscape for Basque media. Thirteen years later, Spanish authorities shut the newspaper down.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2819\" width=\"307\" height=\"172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020.jpeg 630w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-300x169.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 307px) 100vw, 307px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eltemps.cat\/article\/3448\/egunkaria-15-anys-dun-silenci-impune\">El Temps<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first issue of <em>Egunkaria<\/em>, meaning daily in Euskara, hit the stands on <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Euskaldunon_Egunkaria\">December 6, 1990<\/a>. The idea for <em>Egunkaria<\/em> grew out of meetings that started in November, 1989, based on the principles of being aimed at Basque-speakers; having a national, broad, and united appeal; being independent of political parties and the Spanish media; and being non-institutional but subsidized. By 2003, it contained an average of 70 pages, sold 15,000 copies, and reached 44,000 readers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In February, 2003, Spanish judge Juan del Olmo ordered the newspaper to be shut down. The Guardia Civil raided the newspaper&#8217;s offices and froze their assets. The charges were &#8220;illegal association&#8221; and &#8220;membership of, or collaboration with, ETA.&#8221; The newspaper was forced into liquidation by these charges, essentially ceasing to exist. A similar fate had hit the newspaper <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Egin_(newspaper)\">Egin<\/a><\/em> only a few years before. Several people associated with the paper were arrested and detained, including <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/I\u00f1aki_Uria\">I\u00f1aki Uria<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joan_Mari_Torrealdai\">Joan Mari Torrealdai<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Txema_Auzmendi\">Txema Auzmendi<\/a>, Xabier Alegria, <a href=\"https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pello_Zubiria\">Pello Zubiria<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Xabier_Oleaga\">Xabier Oleaga<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Martxelo_Otamendi\">Martxelo Otamendi<\/a>. Several of these men reported being tortured while held by the Spanish authorities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The closure of the newspaper sparked international outcry. The British newspaper <em>The Independent<\/em> made a donation to help <em>Egunkaria<\/em>&#8216;s eventual replacement, <em>Berria<\/em>, get going. Famed writer <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Salman_Rushdie\">Salman Rushdie<\/a>, then president of the <a href=\"https:\/\/pen.org\">PEN America<\/a>, spoke out in support of the defendants. A number of <a href=\"http:\/\/webfolder.eurac.edu\/MIDAS\/967FBEF8-C573-40F5-BE1E-D3D986DA3658\/0\/1503_Egunkaria_MIDASEnglish.pdf\">human rights organizations also protested<\/a> these actions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Almost immediately after <em>Egunkaria<\/em>&#8216;s closure, a new temporary daily newspaper, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Egunero\">Egunero<\/a><\/em>, was published, the first issue released on February 21, 2003 with a circulation of 50,000. And, in June, 2003, a more permanent replacement, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus\/es\/berria\/ar-25919\/\">Berria<\/a><\/em>, hit the stands, with Martxelo Otamendi, former director of <em>Egunkaria<\/em>, as its director. <em>Berria<\/em> is still being published.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The criminal case against <em>Egunkaria<\/em> and the men detained was finally settled in 2010, by which time <em>Egunkaria<\/em> had long ceased to exist. The Criminal Court of the Audiencia Nacional of Spain stated that there was no grounds to have the newspaper closed. Specifically, they said that &#8220;the narrow and erroneous view according to which everything that has to do with the Basque language and with culture in that language is promoted and\/or controlled by ETA leads to an incorrect assessment of facts and figures, and to the inconsistency of the accusation&#8221; and that &#8220;the allegations have not proven that the defendants have the slightest relation with ETA, and this determines in itself the acquittal with all pronouncements favorable to the defendants.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One of those defendants, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joan_Mari_Torrealdai\">Joan Mari Torrealdai<\/a>, died on July 31, 2020 of cancer that he said was caused by the torture he had received. Not only was Torrealdai instrumental in <em>Egunkaria<\/em> &#8212; he was President of the newspaper&#8217;s Administration Council &#8212; he was editor of the journals <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jakingunea.com\">Jakin<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Anaitasuna<\/em>, Chairman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domeinuak.eus\/en\/\">PuntuEUS Foundation<\/a>, and the author of many books focused on Basque writing and language. In 2007, he was made a full member of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.euskaltzaindia.eus\/index.php?lang=en\">Euskaltzaindia<\/a>, the Royal Academy of the Basque Language). He was 78 years old.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Primary sources: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Egunkaria\">Wikipedia: Egunkaria (English)<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Euskaldunon_Egunkaria\">Wikipedia: Egunkaria (Euskara)<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/egunkaria.info\/international\/?page_id=48\">Egunkaria.info<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, if you go to the Basque Country, you will see Basque media pretty much everywhere. There is a Basque-language television station, a Basque newspaper (Berria), Basque radio stations, and Basque magazines. There are bookstores full of books written in Euskara. However, the concept of a daily newspaper written entirely in Basque is relatively new. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[836,14,13],"tags":[2156,305,2144,162,2145,97,1227,2147,2155,2148,2146,164,2151,426,2154,2149,2152,2153],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-euskara","category-history","tag-audiencia-nacional","tag-berria","tag-egunero","tag-egunkaria","tag-ekin","tag-eta","tag-euskaltzaindia","tag-inaki-uria","tag-jakin","tag-joan-mari-torrealdai","tag-juan-del-olmo","tag-martxelo-otamendi","tag-pello-zubiria","tag-puntueus","tag-salman-rushdie","tag-txema-auzmendi","tag-xabier-alegria","tag-xabier-oleaga"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-Js","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6403,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions\/6403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}