EBU: Tighter rules and creation of new roles for Eurovision 2025!
The highly anticipated result of the independent research, regarding all the matters that took place in Malmö, and filled the Contest’s name with a lot of negativity, were given away by the EBU.
According to what was announced, new roles will be institutionalized in order to ensure the smooth running of the Contests in the future, as well as more and tighter rules, are some of the measurements that the EBU will take up, to make sure that all the negative actions that took place in Malmö, will not happen again in the future.
New responsible roles for the Contest
The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest, have introduced a new role, the ESC Director. There is also the thought of a new, Welfare Director that will ensure the welfare of contestants, during their stay in each city during the contest.
The new ESC Director will report to the EBU’s deputy director general and media director, Jean Philip De Tender. They will also oversee the Executive Supervisor, Martin Österdahl, who seems to remain in his position. The new director, will also oversee a new role, that of the head of ESC brand and commercial, which has not yet been recruited.
Better implementation of the rules and them being known by the artists and the delegations
In an interview to “Variety”, expert Pernille Gaardbo, who is behind all this research, stated that the EBU will talk with the experts and will decide whether a Welfare Director is needed, or if another way of the well-being of the artists will be enforced. On the same time, he highlights the main reason regarding why many things went wrong in Malmö:
“We have a duty of care for the artists as well but also the artists need to understand that if you participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, what are the rules you’re contracting to?”
Part of the changes to be implemented will also include ensuring that artists, their delegations and their respective broadcasters are more aware of the rules and responsibilities they agree to abide by when entering the competition; including their behaviour towards other artists.
“The Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest entertainment platform in the world. If you’re Taylor Swift, you take your time to become [as big as] Taylor Swift. When you’re selected to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest, suddenly, in most cases, an artist which is not that well known on a European or a global level, suddenly you stand on that on that stage. And what we’ve learned is that we need to better prepare all of the artists.”
Variety, which exclusively covers the matter, having statements both by the EBU and the respective experts, reports that all of the above, come right after the incident with Joost Klein, the Dutch representative, and the female employee of the Swedish public broadcaster, as well as the reported bullying of the Israeli singer Eden Golan, by fellow contestants. The EBU will enforce any measurement needed, in order to ensure that the Contest will remain apolitical.
“The EBU is a non-political organisation or a union of public service media broadcasters in Europe. So what we bring is a non-political event. But clearly because the event has become so big, you see that geopolitical tensions can have an impact on the event, that it can have an impact on the artists. We welcome freedom of speech. We 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, it’s very important that people can express opinions and views. But the Eurovision Song Contest is non-political and needs to remain non-political.”
The expert proposes in his report, a possible revision of some rules of the Contest and the creation of a model, like the one that exists in events such as the Olympic Games. Other recommendations made in the report, which will now be considered by a task force of senior leaders across the EBU, include potentially restricting backstage access and also setting up a dedicated crisis management team.
What does the EBU say?
The statement of the EBU, are basically the same. EBU Deputy Director General Jean Philip de Tende stated the following:
“We need to look in reviewing the rules as well as how potentially we can find new ways in mitigating the impact of these external events,” he added. “What we have been doing is very much in line with what international sports federations have been doing. We have the Olympics, which will kick off in a couple of weeks, where exactly the same policies have been followed as what the EBU has been doing for the Eurovision Song Contest.”
“We are committed to ensuring that the Eurovision Song Contest continues to go from strength to strength and that all stakeholders, not least participating broadcasters and the millions who enjoy the event, can be reassured of our best intentions to maintain the success of this event that brings so much joy to millions around the world.”
In the coming weeks and months, there will obviously be new announcements about the people who will fill the new positions of responsibility of the Contest, but also possibly the new rules that will be established and will ensure the best hosting of the competition in the future.
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Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, in Switzerland!
Πηγή: Variety, Eurovision.tv
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