BBC: “Finnish radio drops Latin news after 30 years”
(Source: BBC News via Kris Partridge)
The Yle public broadcaster has told its 'carissimi auditores' (dear listeners) that "everything passes, and even the best programmes reach the end of the road. This is now the case with our world-famous bulletin, which has broadcast the news in Latin on Friday for the past 30 years".
The core members of the 'Nuntii Latini' (News in Latin) team - Professor Tuomo Pekkanen and lecturer Virpi Seppala-Pekkanen - have been with the five-minute bulletin since it was first broadcast on 1 September 1989, although other newsreaders and writers have joined since.
Professor Pekkanen took gracious leave of Yle, saying that, "judging by the feedback, Nuntii Latini will be missed around the world - and we send our warm thanks to you all for these past years!"
["]Latin news addicts won't have to suffer withdrawal symptoms for long, as the language's greatest remaining bastion, the Catholic Church, launched its own weekly news bulletin in Latin the same week as Yle's programme went off air. [read more here]
The key difference is that Yle offered a broad world news agenda, rather than Vatican Radio's more focused 'Hebdomada Papae' (The Pope's Week) - not to mention the fact that the Catholic Church uses its own, Italian-influenced pronunciation, rather than the Classical version preferred by scholars.["]