Galician Language in Media: History and Current Status

Posted on Aug 12, 2025 in Arts and Humanities

Press

History of the Press in Galicia

  • The Galician press was born in the 19th century with newspapers in Spanish that appeared and disappeared with liberal governments.
  • The first was the weekly El Censor Compostelano (Santiago, 1800).
  • Between 1833-1868, the most representative Galicianist writers of the time collaborated in the press, mainly including literary texts.
  • Between 1868-1874, Galician remained a minority language in the press.
  • In the last quarter of the 19th century, with the publication of O Tío Marcos da Portela, the first press entirely in Galician appeared.
  • In the 20th century, the most important newspaper was Nós, but the most significant development was the publication of the magazine Nós.
  • The press in Galician had a major peak during the Republic, motivated by the climate of freedom, which was truncated during the Franco regime, though it maintained some activity in exile.

The Press in Galicia Today

  • After the death of Franco, there was an increase in publications of all kinds, making the press more pluralistic and transparent.
  • The most important newspapers in recent years in Galicia, using Spanish and, sporadically, Galician, are:
    • Faro de Vigo (1853)
    • El Correo Gallego (Santiago, 1878)
    • La Voz de Galicia (A Coruña, 1882)
    • Diario de Pontevedra (1887)
    • El Progreso (Lugo, 1908)
    • La Región (Ourense, 1910)
    • El Ideal Gallego (A Coruña, 1917)
    • Atlántico Diario (Vigo, 1987)
  • Today, besides the standardization of the press for general information, there is a wide range of published specialized magazines: Grial, Cadernos de Lingua, Boletín Galego de Literatura, A Trabe de Ouro, Análise Empresarial.

Radio

The first manifestations of Galician on radio were interventions related to Galician autonomy during the Second Republic, although there were no dedicated programs in Galician.

During the Franco regime, Galician interventions could only be heard on radio broadcasts from exile. Specifically, the first broadcasts came from the BBC in London, followed by Radio Carve in Montevideo, and broadcasts sponsored by the magazine Galicia Emigrante in Buenos Aires.

In the 1970s, the cultural group ‘A Coruña’s Torch’ (Facho) used Radio Nacional to broadcast the first programs in Galician in Galicia. In the mid-1980s, local radio stations began to broadcast in Galician, and in 1985, the public broadcaster Radio Galega was created.

Television

Since 1956, when the first television broadcasts began in Spain, emissions were exclusively in Spanish. In 1971, regional centers of TVE were created, and in 1974, some programs in Galician began to be broadcast, especially regional information.

In 1985, TVG (Televisión de Galicia) was launched, the public channel that broadcasts almost entirely in Galician.

Advertising

The majority of advertising arrives in Spanish or in English if the medium is the Internet, but the Galician presence is beginning to appear in this sector. The Galician consumer shows a willingness to receive advertising in Galician; in fact, three out of four Galicians consider advertising in that language appropriate, as well as product labeling.

Internet

In 1996, a breakthrough occurred in the mass deployment of the Internet in Galicia, leading to the increased use of the Galician language online. The autonomous administration started to provide services to citizens, the first web pages in Galician appeared, as did digital editions of leading newspapers. The Day of Galician Literature was celebrated, and chats, forums, and thematic lists emerged. Currently, we can also find Galician search engines and portals, and we can say that our language is on the network as a vehicle for expression and communication for all kinds of topics.

Despite these developments, the data on the presence of Galician on the Internet are not very positive compared to the proportion of other languages and the number of speakers. Very few companies incorporate Galician into their websites. This could be a setback in the normalization of the Galician language, given its insufficient presence in this medium par excellence.