Support of regional mass media in the context of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

The paper considers promotion of regional languages in mass media. The experience of European countries in ensuring the presence of regional languages in the media in the context of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (the Charter) has been discussed. The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that the development of information technologies and, as a consequence, the globalization processes lead to the displacement and loss of national cultural phenomena, primarily national or regional languages. We have analyzed the state periodical reports of Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain on the implementation of obligations stipulated in Article 11 of the Charter and Committee of Experts’ evaluation reports, which allowed studying the current situation of regional languages in media communications, as well as favorable and negative trends. The provision of favorable conditions for the functioning of regional languages in the media in the context of the Charter is due to state support, the provision of financial assistance, the creation of organizations and councils responsible for promoting regional media and their cooperation with each other and with the authorities, and finally, regulatory documents, which guarantee the fulfillment of these conditions. The results obtained are of importance for modern sociolinguistics, because the experience gained allows us to determine the most universal factors favorable for the development and support of the media functioning in regional languages.