Els drets lingüístics en l'àmbit de les ràdios municipals: especial referència a la Comunitat Valenciana dins del nou marc comunitari europeu

Resum

Local public radio stations encourage listeners to actively engage in political, economical, cultural and social aspects of community life. Such engagement, both on a daily basis and in special circumstances, such as during an election campaign, is regulated by two different laws and is of great interest from the perspective of language plurality. In the case of day-to-day engagement, what appears particularly interesting is the existence of three official languages other than Spanish. As far as active participation during election campaigns is concerned, what becomes more relevant is the possible impact of non-Spanish language groups within the new landscape of the European Community after the ratification of the Maastrich Treaty. In order to define the language rights in local radio stations, the author examines the notion of pluralism as found in Spanish Law. Also discussed is a bill passed by the Valencian Government dealing both with the issue of access by social and political groups to local radio stations, and within language matters. The language situation is particularly important in the Valencian autonomous region, not only because of its bilingual status, but also because there are local communities with a majority of residents from other countries in the European Community. In view of the requirements established by the European Union Treaty, which allows EC residents in Spain to present candidacies in local elections, the author points to the possible increase of language plurality with the addition of other EC languages- in the appearance of political groups in Valencian local radio stations for electoral purposes. However, from his analysis of Constitutional regulation on language plurality, and of the right of access on equal conditions to public media, the author concludes that such plurality is limited to Spanish official languages.