Luis Aranberri

The opposition to any expression in a language other than Spanish, political censorship and the pro-government bias of the media during Franco’s dictatorship had hindered the normal development of the press in Basque.

At the same time, the absence of qualified Basque-speaking media professionals, together with the pronounced social and political commitment – almost akin to working underground – of the writers who cooperated with their opinion columns, meant that Basque language magazines tended more to reflection than general news.

This was the setting for such pioneers as Javier de Aranburu, Miren Jone Azurza, Mikel Atxaga and the youngest of them all, Luis Aranberri.

Barely five years later, the historian and essayist Joseba Intxausti wrote: Amatiño (a pen name that has become household name in a very short period of time) is essentially a journalist.

In this field, he is arguably the country’s foremost writer.Amatiño’s popularity spilled over into the world of Spanish when in 1976 he joined the editorial board for the Culture section in the newly founded newspaper Deia and, yet more so, when he was put in charge of the News Services of ETB, Basque public television, which began broadcasting for the first time on January 1, 1983.