The European Broadcasting Union is facing criticism that some countries competing in the Eurovision Song Contest will be at a disadvantage following its decision to limit press access to the event.
Eight delegations from countries competing in this year’s song contest in Liverpool have signed and delivered a letter to Dave Goodman, Digital Communications Manager at Eurovision, highlighting their concerns regarding press and journalism limitations.
Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet gained access to the letter, which details how some countries could be at a disadvantage under the new rules.
Eurovision 2023 press centre: Countries protest journalism restrictions
How does the Eurovision press centre work?
The Eurovision press centre is open to accredited media in the period of time surrounding the live shows. Here, journalists can attend press conferences and conduct interviews with the competing artists, and watch rehearsals as countries put the finishing touches on their entries.
In a change from recent years, rehearsals will be closed to the press. The press centre itself will also open on 8 May — the day before the first semi-final — as opposed to the week prior. Artists and delegations seeking media opportunities will need to make their own arrangements at a different location while the ACC Liverpool media centre remains vacant.
Why are countries angry?
In their letter to the EBU, eight delegations claim the new Eurovision press rules could put some nations at a disadvantage. The countries participating in semi-final one of Eurovision 2023 will have just one day to conduct interviews and take advantage of media opportunities, while the countries participating in semi-final two will have more free time to put themselves in the spotlight.
The letter to the EBU
We’re pasting the full original draft letter below, addressed to the EBU’s Dave Goodman and signed by representatives from eight delegations.
”After our meeting today, some Heads of Media have shown their concern about the Media Centre opening only at May 8th.
We feel this decision is not fair for countries performing on the first semi-final.
In the past years, we have all experienced that the larger number of interviews happened in the first week, when the free time between rehearsals is bigger, and the pressure of the Live Shows is still growing.
As you can understand, at May 8th the artists performing in the first semi-final have no free time to spend with media. The schedule is too tight and they have to focus on their performance.
We understand you brought the solution of doing this meetings with media in the Euro Club but we also feel that without a space to work, probably the majority of media members won’t attend to Liverpool earlier than 7th or 8th of May.
We gather our concern in a group email to kindly ask you to reconsider this decision and to review the chance of opening it some days earlier.
We all want the best for the contest, for the Eurovision brand, for the Artists and we all stand for fairness with all participating countries.”
Wiwibloggs LUSH Liverpool Lounge
Wiwibloggs’ LUSH Liverpool Lounge will function as an alternative space while access to the ACC Liverpool and M&S Bank Arena remains limited. We’re inviting the class of Eurovision 2023 to celebrate with us. Artists can attend the world’s biggest LUSH store to meet fans, give exclusive wiwibloggs interviews, and indulge in spa treatments.
Spaces are filling up fast. We can’t wait to publish the first full roster and schedule on Saturday.
The majority of press in recent years have been fans with web blogs etc.One thing that has emerged over the years is that most fans are not journalists by trade and profession, and their excitement and personal interests have come before the media entity they are representing. These are mainly people who have no experiences working in the field of media and have a completely different profession in real life, often or not they lack the basic skills in effective communication and etiquette. As a result over the years their unconstructive, critical and reckless behaviour has tantamount to disrespect and… Read more »
This comes a tad late, doesn’t it? Media and press from outside the UK would’ve already booked hotels many, many months in advance…
Hasn’t it been already the same thing in recent years like no press for the first rehealsals?
But now press isn’t allowed at any rehearsal whatsoever, thanks to TikTok.
It’s too late now for such a proposal. Approved media have already their schedule and booked their hotels based on the news that the Press Centre opens only May 8. But a good statement for the. 2024 edition.
Also, I noticed the qualifiers will draw their 1st/2nd half ticket on Tik Tok and not during the usual press conference. Which was the only reason for the journalists to be present at. Most of the moves from the ESC communication teams are aggressive towards the Media or maybe they want to remove altogether the Press Centre in the coming years.
The truth of the matter is that the fandom has completely turned toxic and to limit the toxicity and protect everyone involved with the contest they’ve had to restrict access.
True. Social media has made an army of internet sleuths who talk trash. But it’s also the artists’ responsibility to not let the comments affect them. Gotta have tough skin to be a public figure.
Yeah, just like people on this site.
Oh please, they are doing it because of TikTok. They sold out.
ON the first semi final, AT May 8th. Who wrote this letter? I’m not a native speaker but this is hilarious. It looks unprofessional.
It’s probably fake.
jury show is at May 8th 😉
Well done EBu All you go to next is axe the The semi finals replace on tiktok contest much better ?
The end of the day wiwibloggs other eurovision sites people move on things like snapchart and tiktok They are the past And the other ones are the future I’m sorry to say but it’s true
TikTok might end up being banned, so I don’t think they’re surely the future at this point…
I don’t know why they’re allowing the press in it in the 1st place Cause all they do is destroy someone’s chances And the end of the day they should have no right to watch them In the oldies they were never Aloud in
apparently Switzerland too
RTS finally understanding their entry is so weak haha
I miss the days when we would all excitedly wait for Wiwibloggs videos on their first opinions on the acts’ first rehearsal. So fun hearing your opinions on what could be improved. Countries need outside opinions on what to improve. I’m sure countless countries changed outfits after hearing feedback from the press. Blanche’s ugly white dress, Sennek’s ghost makeup, so many iconic changes made because of press opinion.
Really I don’t
Remember 2016 when Barei refused to speak with Will because he was a ‘hater.’ The fans have really caused this.
Artists who can’t handle criticism should just not participate.!
I love the white dress of Blanche more but i think the black dress is fit the song vibe more than white dress.
What’s clear here is that the nations who lodged the formal complaint are the ones that are most vulnerable to not qualifying. So they would benefit from a week of possible positive stories of great rehearsals. And conversely, it would benefit them that “fan favorites” who have bad rehearsals, poor staging or crappy vocals lose some of the favoritism. And clearly semi 1 looks to be most hurt and semi 2 has more time for positive reactions. Nations who are high in the odds rather not have any possibility for negative stories.
In 2018 as soon as we saw the staging for Fuego we knew Eleni had been massively underrated and Cyprus became one of the favourites to win. 2019 Australia was seen as a non qualifier, the moment Kate stepped on stage, or rather she was rolled on stage everything changed and she became the second favourite to win. We will not see anything like this and acts won’t have the chance to grow and turn their fortunes around. Great songs and great staging will be let lose, escpeically since there will be no juries doing quality control.
It depends. My experience in 2018 is that the whole pro-Cyprus wave from the press and followed by fandom was offputting for me. It never had the organic the build up that others like Conchita or The Common Linnets had. Should had played the dark hose/underdog card but everything was too rushed. At least for me. I didn’t get the Australia 2019 buzz. In contrast, they made me feel so worried about Netherlands and specially for Italy. Glad they went wrong even tho who knows if Mahmood would’be had a better reaction in such a close race. Or they overlooked… Read more »
I also remember people hyping up Australia’s desperate gimmick and undermining Mahmood during those rehearsals, I got the last laugh tho and it was glorious.
I started watching ESC in 2016. I have seen a big decline in the media quality of ESC since 2020. They seem to have gotten lazier even as the contest has gotten bigger. I miss the professionalism. Their YouTube channel now seems like a fan-made channel that just begs for clicks in order to generate more revenue. They sold their souls to TikTok and now they deal a blow to the fan journalism like Wiwibloggs who are part of the reason ESC has grown. I call shade.
Alex the context is being destroyed The press should never be allowed in to watch it The only time when it’s Broadcasted live
How can the press inform the fans of what to expect though? I’m glad they warned me about changes made, costume changes, bad vocals, etc…
The shade all the way to Bulgaria is strong with this one ?
TikTok probably ?
Even though I always tried to avoid rehearsals they created buzz for the contest. Made things more exciting. You know ESC is close when you read headlines about rehearsal. So on that notion it is sad that THAT aspect is gone. Plus for me even if did not see the actual footage it was always nice reading about the artist’s feeling after the rehearsal. Did it go OK, could it be improved and so on? It’s those small elements knowing that your country’s representative is there that made it more fun.
The rehearsals will still be on TikTok, which is probably what this is about. Exclusivity.
Well many people, including me do not have TickTock. Nor do I plan to get it just for a short snippet
X2 and if the US ends up banning it, my country will follow soon after and ban it too
What should “press” function as? I always thought it was for the benefit of the reader at home. Not to serve as promotion for interested parties. I’m sure these delegations will have other opportunities to sell themselves, no? I appreciate that sites like this one add a lot to the spirit of the occasion, and are a boon to the EBU… but if relentless interviews and scrutiny weighs too heavily on the participants, then it’s right to curtail that.
I really prefer this way. For the artists.
If EBU did this is because I guess many delegations and artists weren’t comfortable before.
Press had also many things wrong in the past and they did hurt some entries and killed some hype as bookmakers follow that. And that sadly has am effect on general media or even juries.
Good !
It’s a tough one because I understand that losing a whole week in the press centre limits the time to promote acts/artists.
But also, it will be good to hide the rehearsals until the shows start, it might be a bit more exciting and the focus is simply just on perfecting the routines and staging.
But delegations benefit from hearing public opinion. Wiwi and other ESC experts know what works better than these TV producers.
That’s true I mean there is a benefit to it but there’s sometimes bias and it doesn’t always help. I will miss seeing the clips like from a few years back but I can see the arguement from both sides
Potentially unpopular opinion incoming:
As far as rehearsals are concerned, I think it’s better this way. Let artists focus on getting everything right without the press breathing down their necks.
I think it’s fair, every year there are countries that have 50 journalists who go to the press center and who only criticize certain countries to make people believe that their countries are the best. Spanish journalists are not very respectful and wiwiblogg does not respect the rules. last year they got a big warning for their behavior. so maybe we have to question this and maybe EBU will go back to the way it was before.
Spill the tea, what was the warning about ?
stage
Has it been explained why there won’t be a press centre until May 8? I think it’s going to dampen excitement for the show, and it’s also unfair on sites like these who have done so much to publicise the contest in the past.
Yes, I’m surprised about some of these decisions from the organisers. It’s disrespectful to the hard work of fan-based media, and ignorant to their value in supporting and publicising the Contest.
About time Why do the press Need me in room any away They should ban press permanently
Am i reading this right. WIWI won’t be in the arena press centre like previous years until 8 May if allowed in at all? I only say this because on Eurovision.TV it would appear that they are now doing what WIWI have always done.
Guys, a few days ago I saw a scheduled premiere of an official album on the ESC channel, now it seems to have disappeared, and the scheduled date was actually today. Does anyone know where and how else to access the album (cause are all secretly excited for Blanka’s ass-kicking revamp 😀 )
I don’t get the “dancebreak” part tho.. We all know that Noa’s dancebreak will bury her dancebreak so why not to try something else? BTW this is the revamp version, it is still NQ but I wish her goodluck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFY6IrJneEQ
This sounds like the revamped karaoke track with the vocals from acoustic version put onto it, just my impression based on the vocals analysis. Thanks nevertheless! 🙂
But they still have the carpet to get their interviews, so what’s the big deal??
yes, and that is also more the right place for interviews at the carpet ceremony, during rehearsals no press i absolutely agree, when artists have to focus on rehearsing and getting everything right
So, I see that no press will be in the press centre during the rehearsals. Too bad, because it was always nice tuning in for the rehearsal livestreams. I hope we will at least get some rehearsal clips from the EBU channels (especially the exclusive second rehearsal ones as shown from the TV).
On the one hand you have the element of surprise this way but I did like it when we had a lot of material from the rehearsals. It hyped me for the contest. Nevertheless whatever we end up getting, I am glad Eurovision is approaching.
I’d imagine there will still be photos so we might have that to look forward to
if we aren’t spoiled too much, we have more to look forward to on the nights itself 😉
every disadvantage has its advantages, what our football legend Johan Cruijff also always said
You don’t have to watch rehearsals if you don’t want to, there are plenty of people who do want them.
Actually, our national broadcaster and its participation fee are funded with our tax money. So yes, we are entitled.
We’re getting TikToks for 1st rehearsals and YT for 2nd, same as last year.
I read it as well. It’s good. Looking forward to it!
Funny how the broadcasters claim about tight schedule now, while it was known since mid-March the press centre won’t be open until 8th May.
This letter was sent in March
Removing the juries completely from semi-finals once the going got tough and now also closing the press centre for the entire duration of the rehearsal period? This defeatist fool Osterdahl and his mates are beyond any reason at this point.
It was quite entertaining to see the fandom overreact the way they usually do in previous years, that’s about it.
Well, I guess you’re right after all, it may have just been too much for all those poor delegations to have these evil fans constantly criticizing their every single move, no idea how they even managed to cope all these years…
Imagine for example if Theodor Andrei came up with some even more gloriously ridiculous contraption of a stage show, there’s no fan press there to live stream and react to it first time, we’d be missing out on peak entertainment!
To be fair, with the amount of negativity and bad press that can come from these rehearsals, I’m not one bit surprised that they’d put them behind closed doors.
Even so far as when we first heard about the stage not working last year, the ahte got so bad the ebu put out a statement saying to not harass the stage designers on social media.
People forget rehearsals are first rehearsals for a reason and the amount of hate artists typically get for them not being perfect is beyond ridiculous imo.
This is atrocious journalism on the part of Wiwibloggs. If you’re going to write a news piece about eight delegations making the EBU come “under fire,” then tell the full story and name the delegations.
“Portugal, Malta, the Czech Republic, Malta, Switzerland, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Latvia and Poland signed a letter of protest to EBU’s Eurovision press officer Dave Goodman. Belgium, and Estonia were also due to sign the letter, but when they announced their support, the letter had already been sent.”
source: Aftonbladet
I just wanted to know which delegations complained that I can say why they did it. 😀
What really matters is not the odds or the interviews! What makes a difference is the performance in the semi-final, if the performance is impressive and stands out better than the other performances, qualification to the final is guaranteed! A good song and a good performance should not rely on pre-parties or interviews.
I think this is the first time I agree with you, Ritoli.
That’s why I don’t worry about Noa. She wasn’t at the pre-parties and wasn’t interviewed, but I know that in the Semi Final she’ll give the performance of her life and surprise everyone.
I mean, you do need a good song too, but yeah, it’s at the time of the actual performance when the we know who’s worthy of getting a good result and who isn’t, not the interviews and PR stunts before the show. We’ve seen performances make or break an act time and again.
Look at Malta 2021 & France 2011 & Italy 2022 and more.. And Israel 2014 that was in the top OGAE that year… That’s why the live performance in the semi/final is the most important thing!
I don’t like her voice and the whole performance was cheap!
And the song was bad “I’m skinning you out! no longer apart” what?? I don’t get it… finally after 2014 Israel woke up and started to send a good songs with good performances.. 2022 was a mess tho… no fireworks, bad camera shots and I didn’t like the dance! the songs was nice tho and his voice is good..
It was one of the worst performances of Israel ESC history..
It may not make a huge difference to their qualification chances but it is important for the artists exposure. Many artists use Eurovision as a platform to promote themselves and having the opportunity to meet press etc. from all over Europe in the lead up is an important part of that.
I thought last year’s first rehearsals closed, second rehearsals open was a good compromise between allowing delegations tomrehearse in private, and away from potential negativity and hate, while allowing more positive and constructive feedback to generate hype.
I agree. Eurovision always benefits from a certain amount of hype. Rehearsal week is a good opportunity to create some buzz around the songs: the general public also participates in this and of course it is a great treat for us in the fandom. I get that the delegations need to have some privacy to work away from the spotlight, but receiving feedback is also important. I would propose the first rehearsals to be fully closed (no clips, no press) but the second ones being open (exclusive, as seen through TV clips and press being present).
If you come with a good song, you don’t need to worry about PR and media exposure. Consider not putting forth a mediocre song next time.