Rierola, Josep M.

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

he Spanish State, seen as a con- ( glomerate of different cultures, 
- but constituting a single economic, 
juridical and political structure, shows a 
remarkable variety in the field of written 
communication, which is, precisely, a re- 
sult of its plurality. 
The Catalan-speaking areas of the state, 
that is, the Principat, the Balearic lsles and 
the Pak Valencia, have, unlike the other 
linguistic areas, developed a press with a 
distindive structure. 
The press in the Catalan regions does not 
consist only of regional papers covering 
intemational and or regional news, but 
also includes local publications at different 
local levels. 
The press in the towns, cities or districts can 
be daily or otherwise, wholly or partly in 
Catalan, tabloid or magazine format, but 
its greatest concern is always to serve a 
much smaller and more specific area than 
the regional dailies, in response to the lat- 
te+s total lack of interest, which according 
to local press experts is the main reason for 
the existence of the local papers. 
Today, when television via satellite can let 
us know at once what is happening in the 
far corners of the globe, many inhabitants 
of the Catalan-speaking areas are still of- 
fered what could be a round-up of the 
previous day's news broadcasts from any 
television channel, instead of local infor- 
mation about their region. 
L O C A L .  .- E S S  
THE PRESS IN THE CATALAN-SPEAKING AREAS DOES NOT CONSIST 
ONLY OF REGIONAL PAPERS COVERING INTERNATIONAL ANDIOR 
REGIONAL NEWS, BUT ALSO INCLUDES LOCAL PUBLICATIONS 
AT DIFFERENT LOCAL LEVELS. 
J O S E P  M. R l E R O L A  P R E S I D E N T  O F  T H E  C A T A L A N  
L O C A L  P R E S S  A S S O C I A T I O N  
The local or district press's close tie with 
the town or district that gives birth to it and 
the professional standards of its staff, over 
and above their legal obligations, are the 
foundation stones that support this type of 
press. 
The success of the local press is clear from 
statistics that show that its circulation in 
Catalonia is three times that of the regio- 
nal press. If the latter were to reach the 
same readership as the former, the sale of 
newspapers in Catalonia would increase 
from one for every fifteen Catalans in the 
Principat to one for every six, a figure 
which would put Catalonia amongst the 
leading European countries in this respect. 
Nevertheless, the future is unclear for the 
local and district press. The need for infor- 
mation processing technology and the 
rise of new generations are the two prin- 
cipal factors behind the uncertainty that 
threatens the reality and success of the 
present. 
The interest in the differentiating fador 
that this type of press represents for 
Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic lsles 
has led the political institutions of these 
historical communities to establish Pro- 
motion Services for the press, to protect it, 
encourage it and generally do al1 they 
can with their distressingly limited budgets. 
At the same time, the different publi- 
cations have forrned an association to 
ensure the survival, development and 
success of this type of press. The Associa- 
ció Cafalana de la Premsa Comarcal de 
Catalunya was born in 1981 in Canya- 
mars, a town in the Maresme district, and 
its constituent congress was held with the 
help of the central government's pro- 
vincial delegation in Barcelona. Since 
then, the ACPC has managed to bring to- 
gether al1 the general news publications 
published one or more times a week, 
about 80 % of the monthlies and 60 % of 
the quarterlies. It is based in Barcelona. It 
has a full-time staff of two, who are re- 
sponsible for the progress of the associate 
publications. It is also their only recog- 
nized representative before the Generali- 
tat de Catalunya, the provincial Diputa- 
cions and other oficial organisms, in mat- 
ters concerning non-daily local and 
district publications in Catalonia. 
In Majorca, the Associació de la Premsa 
Forana has been in existence since 1978, 
and in January of this year represented 
some forty publications of varying peri- 
odicity. Its aims are the same as those of 
the ACPC,, but restricted to the lsle of Ma- 
jorca. 
In Valencia, the situation of the local press 
is weak, in the opinion of those involved. It 
is hoped that, thanks to the results 
achieved in the Principat, the non-daily lo- 
cal and district press here will soon enjoy 
the same success as it does in the Prin- 
cipat. 


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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert