In 1996 I envisioned this project to be an ethnography of bilingual education in the Spanish Basque Country. The questions driving my exploration of the schooling experience were many but all regarding the construction of a national identity. It is often said that the academics study that with which they struggle. As a Puerto Rican, I know first hand what a language and culture contact zone is, I live it everyday.   In studying an "other" I am consciously addressing concerns of my own, seeking to gain some distance on the topic before engaging in the debate and policies that affects my life in the first person.

In the United States the debate on bilingual education has a nationalist undertone.  In order to work, does the "melting pot effect" need to boil down diversity to one language?  Will we weaken our national cohesion if we foster two languages? What impact on a person's identity does schooling have when a student "leaves behind" the mother tongue?  Can we have two mother tongues and one national identity? I define myself as both Puerto Rican and American, no less so than one from the mainland. Where does that fit in the debate?  Day in and day out I see in Puerto Rico an education system that is in the shambles, that seeks to teach both Spanish and English, but for most students performs miserably at both.

The Spanish Basque Country becomes an ideal place for study because it has some superficial similarities with Puerto Rico that assist me in relating to their experience at the same time that the numerous differences will provoke a re-examination of my own preconceptions in the area of language, education, culture and identity.  Like Puerto Rico, the Spanish Basque Country, or what is now known as the Basque Autonomous Community (CAV, by its Spanish acronym) is a semi-autonomous region with two languages and a strong national identity that is separate from that of the larger State. Unlike Puerto Rico, the history of the Spanish Basque Country has been shaped by large migrations other regions of the larger State.  The persecution and rapid change experienced during the Franco dictatorship gave rise to equally drastic reaction from segments of Basque society.  

The design of my research followed the example set by many works of political ecology. The bilingual education landscape in the Spanish Basque Country, in my opinion, begged a multi tier look and the mapping of influence.  The educational ecosystem in this region not only has a diversity of scholastic offerings but the offer has been in flux over the past 12 years. The pool of change seemed ideal to study the variables and forces at work.  Could the changes in schooling options reveal evidence of attempts at constructing greater national cohesion through language and identity?

The landscape of bilingual education begins with publicly funded schools. In the public school arena, after decades of Spanish only education, in the 1980's the CAV government introduced three distinct bilingual education models available throughout public schools. However, before government funded bilingual education was on the map, communities had already defiantly joined hands to create underground schools that used Basque the sole language for teaching.  These schools, known as ikastolas, would later have to choose to define themselves as public or private, the aftermath of these decisions was restlessness and ongoing heated debates as to why events turned out as they did.  While I was there a new options was being considered: municipalization of schools.

The forces behind the change are suggested in the varied local opinion.   Change is most commonly attributed to political designs, the economy, or the demands of families.  The political aims are as varied as the local parties. Whether the conspiracy theory is that Basque nationalism is under attack or that it is seeking to indoctrinate the youth and create a new national identity are opposite theories that co-exist in the same region.  The difficult economy puts demands on all aspects of life and government.  In this light, change can easily be explained with arguments of reducing redundancy. Finally, the shrinking population users of the system now have ample choice of where to go and, hence, a hand in the fate of schools.

As the research unravels the forces behind the changes in the bilingual education landscape I pit theory and opinion with the actual experience of bilingual education in the hopes of adding new insights into the role of bilingual education in the construction of a national identity.

Since the time of my fieldwork, the debate seems to continue unchanged. In California fearing that the melting pot effect would be undermined, Bilingual education has all but disappeared. Nowadays, charter schools with dual immersion programs are under attack. The underlying assumption motivating these changes is that somehow by educating students in two languages, by communicating knowledge in more than one language a common national framework is fractured. The research at hand addresses these concerns by looking at the experience of bilingual education and the construction of a national identity in the Basque Country.

This chapter looks into the schools experience and asks: Are schools politicized? The previous chapter looked at public opinion and revealed that this topic was anything but trivial. Even when answering in the negative, the answer came with the additional political commentary that schooling has either improved dramatically compared to the time of Franco or that ikastolas are now “schools like any other in Europe” fit to be the Basque public school open to all. Over the period of a year I visited six schools in Oarsoaldea. In this chapter I will address the school going experience . The observations are based on fieldwork notes from the entire year.

Where are the schools situated? What do the diverse school settings communicate? As a prospective parent or student or visitor off the street what are the first impressions about the school? I will temper first impressions with comments from the entire year of fieldwork. This general look at each school is complemented in subsequent chapters dedicated to in depth views into classroom dynamics, teacher’s and school administration perspectives. How does activism, politics, political dialogue or endorsements, the discussion of national agendas or national constructs enter into the overarching school experience.

(Missing here is a review of literature relevant to this particular chapter.)

In casual conversations I have often heard that the CAV government has changed its language education policy in reaction to the overwhelming demands of parents. On the same issue, I have also been told that the CAV government is implementing changes in language education in order to shape the identity of students, to make them more Basque or Basques first. Though both explanations of the same events ascribe the agency, or motor of action, differently, they both explain it in political terms: "the government did it to ensure its standing by pleasing the majority" or "the government did it to promote its agenda among generations of school children". This chapter explores publicly held opinion regarding bilingual education.

The bare facts undisputed by all sides are as follow: (1) bilingual education was introduced in 3 different models, (2) access to those models was not and is not distributed equally across the CAV, and (3) over the past 12 years many public schools have closed. Why some schools have closed , while other schools have grown or why some schools are still kept around even though their student population is dwindling are all a matter of opinion. I divide public opinion into external, those expressed in a public forum which is witnessed by a general audience, and the individual opinion which is expressed in private or public contexts but only intended for the witnessing of an individual, a limited audience or non intended happen stance audience.

External public opinion includes debates and news in mass media and less traditional media such as writing on the walls or pintadas. These external manifestations of public opinion are the first source of information for any foreign observer, but they are often times contradictory and rarely surmise the opinion held by the majority. These external manifestations of opinion force the local population to partake in a daily exercise in the construction or reaffirmation of their own individual opinions. Aside from the obvious spaces for opinions in mass media such as editorials, interviews and debates, a close analysis of local news in the media reveals the presentation of news to be itself editorialized. A more in depth analysis of a single medium, newspapers, shows that the definition of what is newsworthy and presentation of facts is often different across newspapers. In fact, for every organized political perspective there is a newspaper and no single newspaper seems to encompass or represent the heterogeneity of voice or opinions in the area.

Individual public opinion is usually gathered and assessed by asking individuals in various settings using polls, formal or casual interviews and unscripted conversation. For the purpose of this investigation, individual opinion is not only analyzed to establish the majority but to roughly define the tendencies in worldview and the percentages held by these perspectives. The exercise of looking for solely for the majority opinion is problematic and of limited benefit in the Spanish Basque Country since the majority of public opinion will vary from province to province, city to city and living quarter to living quarter. Looking at the majority will not always explain the conflict and tension that does characterize the Spanish Basque Country because "majority opinions" do not reveal the reasons behind the plurality of perspectives and their geographical ethnic or social boundaries. Social variables analyzed include age, ethnic identity, education, residence, linguistic background, family history and political.

The local impressions of language education policy and different schooling options discussed in this entry will serve as the backdrop for subsequent entries as I discuss what factors are actually considered when families choose one schooling option over the other and visit the daily ritual at various schools. After the series on Public and Private opinion I will confront public opinion of schools with a description of the actual everyday school experience. The much theorized about product of education: high school students and their perspectives, are presented there after. This immediate series of entries on public opinion is designed to be in fact the background that will arm us with the questions posed all throughout as we elicit the specific accounts of how change came about and to what end from teachers, school directors, Ikastola Movement officials, the Education Department, and regional politicians.

On January 11, 1998, towards the end of my research, one of the main news stories was the political pressure and propaganda like material that government workers witnessed while attending an AEK euskaltegi. Secondary articles were quick to focus on the ikastolas, similar stories at the ikastolas and the response of the Ikastola Movement. Two years later, on January 20, 2000, the Secretary of Education, who many considered responsible for privatizing ikastolas, Fernando Buesa (PSOE), was assasinated by ETA.

News events such as these make it impossible to ignore the role of political association with changes in education and schooling options. But is there other news coverage regarding education that defies this popular link between politics and education? What image is promoted in the mass media? How do pintadas compare to the mass media? I use the daily ritual of three characters representative of broader tendencies I observed in my fieldwork and an analysis of the effect and content of the various mass media to justify my decision to concentrate on the newspaper, above all mass media.

It is 7:30 on a Tuesday, the morning sun has not quite made it over the horizon. María Teresa has already been up for an hour making coffee, having breakfast, separating and ironing her daughter's school clothes, and discussing the days events with her husband. All the while, as her husband walks in and out of their small kitchen and dining area, the radio has kept her company. She is listening to the deep lulling voice of .... from Radio Nacional Española.

The tall apartment buildings of Beraun cast their shadows making the streets seem darker and the air crisp and damp. María Teresa has left her 9^th story piso and is on her way to walk her daughter to school. Once outside the building she greets her neighbor who according to the rotation is busy mopping the lobby and cleaning the steps. The building across the street has an large overhang that serves as a sheltered promenade and plaza. In the corner is a kiosk that sells newspapers, comics, magazines and sweet treats for children. María Teresa crosses the street with her daughter and gives her 125 pesetas.

The young girl, named Pilar, after the patron saint of Spain, runs excitedly to the corner kiosk drops the coins on a newspaper and grabs a copy of El Mundo. Not an ounce of hesitation was apparent, even when the young girl faced 4 different newspapers of different prices. Before she runs off the woman minding the kiosk reminds the girl to take a plastic bag for the newspaper. Pilar returns with a look of satisfaction. It is apparent that she enjoys the responsibility. For as long as she can remember, Pilar had witnessed her mother buy the newspaper at corner kiosk from the same woman. She was first allowed to partake in the purchasing of the newspaper when she she was four, she is now 8 years old.

As Mother and daughter leave the kiosk, go down some steps and turn to head down for school side wall next to them reads "Gora ETA". The message is scribbled free hand with a can of black spray paint. The message can be roughly translated into English as a supportive "Go! ETA". Amidst the rows of tall buildings that date back to Franco the message serves as a startling reminder of black and white portrayals of Spain vs. the Basques that is today overlooked, ignored as Mother and daughter engage in light conversation on the way to school.

Farther down the hill, closer to the Rentería town center, Miguel leaves his parents apartment at 8, to catch el Topo to San Sebastián where he is continuing his studies. Though he still lives with his parents he barely sees them during the day. By the time he wakes and rushes out the door they have left for work. Miguel hurries to the station but before entering, he stops at a small Liburutegia to get his newspaper. The attendant recognizes the familiar face and folds him a copy of Egin to carry under his arm. Miguel reads the newspaper while on the train, during his morning coffee break and then in the afternoon when he returns to his neighborhood and sits at the corner bar where he is a regular. When he is not reading it, the newspaper is folded neatly in half and held under his arm.

At 6pm the newspaper is still in hand as he enters his evening adult Basque language class at the AEK down by the center of town. While he waits for the teacher to arrive he does not engage in small talk with other students and teachers, but sits comfortably with his leg crossed and the newspaper open before him to finish reading the days news. As class begins, he sets the newspaper down on the desk next to him, where it will stay as he leaves to meet his friends for a finger or two of beer. At 8pm, the Egin saves another student who would rather not rehearse his Basque before class. As the next teacher walks in the newspaper gives her the perfect segway to start the night's class: "So, let's begin by restating some of the day's news. Pako we'll start with you."

In one of Oiartzun's newer communities there are no corner kiosks or stores. Joxe Mari picks up his dialy newspaper at his doorstep. He glances over the headlines and leaves El Diario Vasco behind for his wife and mother in law to read. Joxe Mari will read bits of news when he grabs a copy of El Diario Vasco at the bar near the office which he frequents during his morning break. There with a tumbler with a finger or two of wine from the Alava Rioja and a pincho or two he takes a few minutes to read the paper. His reading is interrupted by the casual meeting of a co-worker. Following the unwritten rule, they talk about the weather, food, wine, anything but work and the politics of the day only if you know what to expect.

At noon, Joxe Mari makes it home for his leisurely two hour home cooked lunch. His wife, Elisabete is back from school with time enough to fix a salad to compliment her mother's macaroni and meat sauce. The Grandmother informs the parents that the kids have already eaten and are getting ready for the bus to pick them up at any minute now. After the children are gone, the Grandmother turns the television on to the midday news hour on ETB. There in the privacy of their home Joxe Mari and his wife Elisabete will watch the news out of the corner of their eyes and talk about things of interest. By the time the news is done the Grandmother has dozed off and Joxe Mari and Elisabete are ready to leave once again.

In the Spanish Basque Country there are 6 television stations, 3 popular radio stations with varied programs, 5 newspapers, and pintadas scribbled in every sector defacing almost every other building. The effect of these forms of external public opinion can be measured by taking into consideration and comparing the ritual setting of reception (at home, in a bar), the attention they demand from their audience, and the audience's schedule of engagement (in the morning, during the day, in the evening). In the end, personal opinions regarding the various media as well as their education and language content will reveal that newspapers bear the most influence among the general population. The location of pintadas and their graphic composition, at times including target arrows around names and varying in preponderance and thematic according to the neighborhood and school should not be dismissed. Though the medium with the most explicit content of language education is the newspaper the image of language education is directly affected by the content and location of pintadas. Though I believe pintadas have a significant effect daily inescapable effect on their audience, meassuring their effect would entail a more thorough analysis that lies beyond the scope of this field research.

Of all of these medium, it seems television is the most maligned and the least engaged. In casual conversation on more than one occasion as well as in several classrooms, I recognized a certain pride when people stated that they barely watched tv. Only a handful of students, all of them boys, 5 -10 years of age, stated defiantly and with a sense of bravado that they watched tons of tv, all the time, perhaps as much as 40 hrs a week. These statements were received with horror from classmates as well as the teacher. I have heard criticism of television as an imported hobby, "a vice that is rampant in America but is not part of the culture here." Still, it would be unrealistic to say that television is not watched and a mistake to overlook its effect in public opinion.

The six television stations available with a basic antenna belong to 4 separate broadcasting networks: Television y Radio Española (TVRE), Euskal Irratia eta Telebista (EITB), Antena 3 and Telecinco. At present both TVRE and EITB are perceived to represent the voice of the governments that gave birth to them. Televisión y Radio Española was the first media network and was run by the Spanish State until its privatization in the early 1990's. EITB has a similar history. It was founded in 1980 as a Basque government initiative and is in the process of becoming a private entity, though it is heavily subsidized to compensate its losses. But in general all networks can be described as either national or regional. This geographic distinction reflects both the broadcasting range, the target audience and the news focus. The only regional network is Euskal Irratia eta Telebista.

The symbolism of this national vs. regional ratio is used by different local groups to reiterate their worldview. The reaffirmation of a specific local or state perspective is promoted by the networks but used to reaffirm convictions by the viewers. This relationship was expressed by Ignacio a 37 year old technology specialist at a Basque Bank during an interview:

"lo que pasa es que la única manera... de ir concientizando a la gente es ponerles una televisión en castellano pues porque hay un núcleo de población que no ven la ETB1 pues porque no entienden... y como de alguna manera hay que venderles el, la mentalización vasca..."

"la televisión vasca (ETB1)... es una herramienta que utilizan para que bueno, se utiliza en diferente fines para obtener que el pueblo vasco conozca el euskera y viva en euskera"
Ignacio, 37 year old, Bank employee

Ignacio believes that the local television media is designed to sell or promote the Basque way of thinking and is used to gain or reaffirm membership in a Basque community. While many, like Ignacio, believe that Basque television needs to be in both Spanish and Basque language in order to keep its identity alive, regardless of the language, there are those for whom a Spanish language station from the Basque television network represents betrayal and disenfranchisement. The overwhelming presence of Spanish language programming, which often show dubbed US syndicated programs, is perceived as an assault to the Basque national space, a tangible threat to the development and survival of the Basque language and a corrosive force that erodes Basque values and culture.

Instead of kids playing in the park, spending time with grandparents or developing town based relationships the television inserts the risk of presenting different examples of discourse and patterns of relations that break with the Basque way. The most common example used are the Spanish or US definition of possession in regards to one's home or parents, my house, my parents, which in Basque is not possessed by an individual but by a collective, gure etxea, gure aita-ama (our house, our father-mother). The fear is that children will assume the television definition of relations and find the Basque sense of possession awkward. Mikel a 33 year old doctor who himself learned Basque as a second language as an adult is very aware of the mangled sense of possesion

"En forma de evidencia, nunca se decía etxea zurentzako, se decía zu etxerako. O sea, tú eres el que te quedas para mantener esta casa y seguir adelante con, con la tradición de la casa, de la familia, el trabajo de esa casa. O sea, tú eres el que tiene la responsabilidad, no es que la casa sea para tí... no de eso nada. Eso se ha perdido, eso es la cultura vasca. No bailar el fandango, eso lo aprende un andaluz, en cuanto llega aquí, en tres meses si le da la gana." (Mikel)

According to Mikel, foreign influences are eroding the Basque mindset and it is being lost even as the language is making a come back. Mikel's fear of Basque essence being lost can be applied to other values like having close relationships with grandparents, a great respect of nature, and putting a greater value on the advancement of a group than the individual. This last value will be revisited in length in future chapters as it is actively considered and taught in the classroom. This fear is strengthened as adult Basque speaking generations recognize a growing misuse of Basque grammar and individualistic trends among the younger generations.

A sense of betrayal is often expressed at the financial expense that the Basque government has undergone to subsidize yet another Spanish language television station. It is a far more poignant fact that the government has promoted the further symbolic isolation of the Basque language by dividing its resources, creating a single Basque language television station and adding yet another Spanish language station. There is a distrust of the government's explanation that it's intention was to provide freedom of choice in language for the population. The cynicism that accompanies this sense of betrayal was captured by Jaione, a 27 year old executive assistant in a law firm who in her younger years had belonged to Euskal Herrian Euskeraz-EHE (Basque in the Basque Country).

"Aquí lo que nos han vendido es que todo el mundo es libre, libre de elegir el idioma que quiere puesto que los dos son oficiales. EHE denunció el que ETB tuviera dos estaciones de televisión una en castellano y otra vasca y que en la vasca hubiera subtítulos... y es que en este país lo que sobran son las folkloradas, un buen ejemplo por ejemplo la revista de la universidad publica vasca... era en castellano todo y las únicas noticias, las noticias que salían en euskera todo era que si la danza de no sé qué que si las verduras del mercado de no sé donde y los baserritarras y era todo como si ay, como si estuviéramos en el siglo 19 todavía, como si ese idioma no valiese para otras cosas, como si solo valiese para decir que bonito idioma tenemos y que bonito país..." Jaione

According to Jaione, the criticism of television extends to all forms of media. There is little or no comfort in the Basque television since most programming that is done to address Basque concerns promotes the point of view that what is Basque is folkloric elements, sheepherding, dancing, handball, fishing and that the Basque language is tied to these quaint traditions. The government has missed the opportunity to make the Basque language of current relevance and to promote a cohesive picture of a Basque future in practical economic and political terms.

The overwhelming majority of Spanish language programming on television has an opposite reaction among those who see it as a reaffirmation of their notion of living within the boundaries of a State united by the Spanish language. Television is a welcome refuge from the increasing changes on the street where hostile anti-Spanish pintadas are common, bilingual signs are now the standard and Basque only signs are no longer a rarity. The idea of television as a refuge is reaffirmed by the high percentage of entertainment programming.

When seeking entertainment  television viewers are less likely to limit themselves according to ideological distinctions. Being able to entertain a wide audience may be  an attractive proposition for the television stations, but this audience does not seems to be secured but fluid. Television stations achieve the most regular viewership around news shows. News shows are watched by some, like Joxe Mari, the Grandmother and probably María Teresa, at either midday or the evening.

The only regional news shows offered are available on EITB and TVRE. Though TVRE defines its audience as national it follows the official state regions when preparing their local news broadcasts. This attention to the regions in the eyes of many reflects the government perspective on local affairs. Regional news is often presented absent of controversy. In contrast regional stations like ETB1 and ETB2 may extend a news story into several clips in order to represent the controversy surrounding the story. This usually results in the presentation of various opinions within the Basque community. The clearest example of the relationship between public opinion, news and audience is seen in ETB1. ETB1 is the only Basque television station in Basque as well as the only station with a news program about the French Basque Country.

According to the viewers' definition of "the must get information", the viewer will tune in a national or regional broadcast. In doing so, the viewer is defining the parameters of his or her immediate concerns. Getting the newscast is a daily ritual exercise in defining an individual's imagined community and boundaries of relevance. Individuals like Pilar who define themselves as Spanish nationals first would find no relevance in watching or keeping tab of French Basque news. Similarly, if a person who identifies as Basque catches only a glimpse of news but the newscast was from TVRE or another private Spanish station, they will feel as if they have missed the most relevant portion of the news.

News program selection can also be described along the level of controversy a viewer wishes to entertain. The presentation or absence of controversy aids in uncovering the public opinion expressed in subtext of the news shows. Using our examples, Pilar when looking onto local EITB newscasts will be annoyed by the obligatory presentation of different sides commenting on news stories. Her description of the news is tainted negatively, by what she perceives is the endless battle of words and opinions. The newscast of her preference is to the point and presents limited video footage of different sides criticizing each other or simply disagreeing. To the population that actively chooses EITB does so because they witness the dissension, as it is in the dissension that their identity exists.

All networks reported when the Minister of Education, Esperanza Aguirre announced that her ministry had passed several minimum content requirements for History classes. Only TVRE, in their regional news show, and EITB reported that a student alleged that he was the victim of harassment or political discrimination during AEK class. TVRE presentation of the story leaves the news story with the accusation while EITB will provide a counter argument through the presentation of additional news clips from other sources. The difference between TVRE's regional report and EITB's coverage reaffirms the different voices that are popularly ascribed to the stations. TVRE captures the views of the Spanish State which seek primarily to indict regional separatist efforts. EITB reflects local dissension and controversy.

As far as programs airing public opinions in the form of debates and interviews, the viewership is usually coincidental and their subject is rarely education.1 Aside from news and opinion shows, television programming is primarily for entertainment, leaving the expression of public opinion to more subtle forms of representation in series plots and percentage of images that allude to definitions of group identity and delimitation of one's territorial borders. Throughout my months of research there were 2 education based series: Colegio Mayor and *some other program for the teen audiences after school. Both programs dealt with education only in Spanish and presented schools as removed from statewide political issues, love and relationships were the principal concern, Spain was the only national entity mentioned2. The image of language education and nationalism in Spain promoted through entertainment though warranted and relevant is a worthy subject for a separate investigation and more rigorous analysis.

Television is mostly watched at the home. Some bars boast television but this is usually because they have invested in a expensive private channels that air primarily sports events and movies. In some cases the television might be left on during the day as a background distraction while music is playing. Still, overwhelmingly most bars do not have television sets and people tune in to the TV at home.

After observing several daily routines, it is perhaps fairest to say that on average 2 hours of non exclusive attention are given to the television. The daily activity of most individuals engages them outside of their homes most throughout most of the daytime and late afternoon hours. Without ethnic or linguistic distinction, television is watched on an irregular basis. When people are at home the television might be on in the background. In some households, it is watched over dinner, occasionally interrupting conversation or providing a short subject of discussion. If dinner is usually at 8pm and perhaps even at 9 or 10, the hours devoted to television watching are few before turning in for the night.

Based on the inconsistency of television viewership and the more flexible attitude that exists in watching one channel over the other the impact television on public opinions regarding education and language policy is less than that of other mass medium which elicit more dramatic responses and are more ubiquitous.

Among national radio stations, however, a further distinction can be made, Basque national and national activist. The relative economy of transmitting and organizing a radio station make it easier for a diversity of radio stations to arise. Similarly, the risk and expense associated with establishing a television station and developing content is so elevated that the first television stations in Spain as well as in the Basque Country have originally been government sponsored initiatives. The first two private statewide television stations were established in the 1980’s and government stations were privatized in the early 1990’s, though they are still subsidized.

Though television stations were first and foremost government projects, the television’s foreign image has been reinforced with the arrival of US programming dubbed into Spanish. Unlike with television, the radio is often defended as a local tradition. A high regard of radio is taught in schools through popular school initiatives that organize radio news programs and interviews for several different age groups, mostly at the elementary school level. The radio programs are broadcast throughout the school and sometimes even the nearby community with a small tower. Jacqueline Urla’s (1994) article regarding rebel radio stations run mostly by youth groups with radical political and linguistic ideas provides further evidence that once again the radio is a familiar vehicle of expression for the local.³

In spite of this esteem for radio as a medium, throughout my fieldwork, it was more often spouses who work at home that when discussing television habits claimed that this is a culture of listening to talk radio. "I listen to the radio all day" explained a woman who worked at home and at the garden and took care of their calf. When comparing radio to television it is important to note that most avid radio listeners will witness more news and opinion programs than will television viewers, who aside from news hours primarily watch variety shows, series or movies. Still, the radio as with the television are home based activities. Portable radios are a rare scene and when used are primarily used for music. If one considers the time spent in the home is relatively little on average, the effect of radio broadcast news and talk radio appears limited by the ritual setting of reception.

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³  The high cost of setting up a
television station strong enough to broadcast effectively even to a
small area must also be considered as a factor that alienates the
audience from the medium. Though school projects involving video to
simulate television programs might be organized I was not aware of
any such initiatives during my school visits. I believe it is safe
to say that no television based program is as pervasive and active as
early as projects regarding radio and print media.