Organizers of the Eurovision Music Contest (ESC) have launched a brand new director place following an unbiased report into this yr’s competitors. Competitions hosted by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) additionally advocate the appointment of a welfare producer to make sure the welfare of contestants.
The brand new ESC Director will report back to Jean Philip De Tender, EBU Deputy Director Normal and Media Director. They may also oversee the present’s govt director, Martin Österdahl. The brand new director, who has not but been appointed, may also be chargeable for one other new place, ESC head of brand name and industrial, which has additionally but to be recruited.
throughout an interview sort Relating to the report, De Tender stated the EBU will now seek the advice of its specialists and members to find out whether or not the competitors will appoint a welfare producer or undertake different means to help the welfare of contestants.
“The Eurovision Music Contest is the most important leisure occasion [platform] on this planet,” Deted stated. “In the event you have been Taylor Swift, you’ll take the time to be [as big as] Taylor Swift. When you find yourself chosen for the Eurovision Music Contest, normally, swiftly, an artist who isn’t well-known on a European or world stage, all of the sudden you might be on that stage. We discovered that we would have liked to higher put together all artists.
A few of the modifications that will likely be applied additionally embrace making certain that artists, their delegations and residential broadcasters are extra conscious of the foundations and tasks they comply with abide by when coming into competitions, together with their habits in the direction of different entrants. “We even have a duty to take care of artists, however artists additionally want to know, in the event you take part within the Eurovision Music Contest, what guidelines do you observe?” Deted stated.
In Might, the EBU, which runs the competitors, revealed it could appoint an unbiased trade skilled to evaluation this yr’s competitors following a variety of controversies, together with the expulsion of Dutch participant Joost Klein on the morning of the ultimate for allegedly threatening contestants. .
Pernille Gaardbo, the skilled behind the report, spoke to greater than 50 folks to arrange the suggestions, together with a variety of Eurovision stakeholders equivalent to heads of delegations, competitors board members and the EBU/ESC core workforce, Consider what might be executed in another way because the occasion approaches its seventieth anniversary subsequent yr.
“The EBU is a non-political group or union of public service media broadcasters in Europe,” Deted stated. “So what we’re bringing is a non-political occasion. However clearly, as a result of the occasion has grow to be so huge, you are going to discover that geopolitical tensions can have an effect on the occasion and in addition have an effect on the artists. We welcome free speech. we now have seen [the] Demonstrations in Malmö [against the participation of Israel in the contest following the conflict in the Middle East]. As public service media, you will need to permit folks to specific their opinions and views. However Eurovision is apolitical and wishes to stay apolitical.
“We have to evaluation the foundations and the way we will discover new methods to mitigate the affect of those exterior occasions,” he added. “What we now have been doing may be very per what the worldwide sports activities federations have been doing. Our Olympic Video games will Opening in a number of weeks, it is going to observe precisely the identical coverage because the EU did for the Eurovision Music Contest.
Different suggestions made within the report, which can now be thought of by a working group of senior EBU leaders, embrace the potential for proscribing back-office entry and establishing a devoted disaster administration workforce.
In a press release accompanying the suggestions, the EBU stated: “We’re dedicated to making sure that the Eurovision Music Contest continues to develop and develop so that every one stakeholders, particularly the taking part broadcasters and the hundreds of thousands of viewers who benefit from the occasion, can Relaxation assured. We do our greatest to maintain this occasion a hit that brings a lot pleasure to hundreds of thousands of individuals all over the world.
For De Tender, who’s already waiting for subsequent yr’s competitors in Switzerland, this report is about “future-proofing” the competitors in order that it could proceed to convey pleasure via music to future generations. “We see warring nations virtually embracing one another on the stage as a result of the stage is apolitical,” he stated. “So it exhibits that it is about mutual respect, respect for variety and respect for inclusion.”
