(... so maybe this is the) General Discussion Thread

[Loindici]

Well, I can't find the 2024 general discussion thread yet. I'm providing a thread to house it before mods will make one.

You may discuss anything related to the 2024 contest in general.

EDIT: Welp, I guess it has manifested into one. Let's go guys!

 

[tobias1576]

Hey! Please apologize for crashing the discussion. I'm working for the German broadcaster ARD and for our coverage of this year's ESC, we would like to talk to fans who will be in Malmö already some days/weeks ahead of the contest. If you're interested, don't hesitate to send me a dm!

 

[EscGeek]

The EBU being condescending is nothing new. There was that time that Osterdahl declared on air that everything was fine and then the voting process had 'technical difficulties' that saw Osterdahl have to announce the jury votes himself. As it turned out, it was not because of a failure to establish a connection but as there were major issues with the jury votes of multiple nations. The technical difficulties were the result of interventions to replace the problematic jury votes.

The EBU elected to handle this not by being honest and openly saying issues were detected and here's what we are doing to protect the integrity of the voting, but by pretending there was nothing more than minor technical issues until the situation was later revealed as the public release of jury votes and disputes with state broadcasters made hiding the situation impossible.

...Even though the public has a right to know if their national jury has been compromised because if nothing else it could indicate deeper issues with the integrity of internal selection/national selection jury processes.

Oh and the EBU have to be wilfully ignorant of their own experiences given the years where Russia was booed to the point that they deployed anti-booing technology for later contests. There is established precedent that if the a considerable section of the public has a serious issue things are going to happen.

Think about how toxic the news reports and people on social media would have been in the days/weeks after the 2022 final if Osterdahl straight up said that they dissmissed the rigged jury votes. I think this situation was handeled perfectly: Casual viewers saw the show and they moved on, today only eurofans know what actually happened and EBU avoided the embarrsement of failing to prevent the cheating in the first place.

 

[Lance Esgard]

Think about how toxic the news reports and people on social media would have been in the days/weeks after the 2022 final if Osterdahl straight up said that they dissmissed the rigged jury votes. I think this situation was handeled perfectly: Casual viewers saw the show and they moved on, today only eurofans know what actually happened and EBU avoided the embarrsement of failing to prevent the cheating in the first place.

I agree that it was the right approach not to say directly that we have dismissed entire jury votes that are rigged. I disagree that saying nothing was the perfect approach instead of some delicate wording perhaps along the lines of 'there was an issue that come up but it has been addressed and I can confirm the votes presented tonight are all without issue.' You don't need to name names. You don't need to say what the scale is. Casual viewers would still move on.

I do take the point that with a view to avoiding a disruptive response there is value in transitioning to the votes being read by Osterdahl as being the result of a 'technical issue', but I would disagree that the perfect approach was doing this and also being totally silent on the existence of any issues.

It depends on whether a value and if so, how much, is given to transparency and accountability. As you say, the approach taken avoided toxic responses. That is also what would happen when any scandal goes unreported.

Due to the lower impact of Eurovision an appropriate balance is less than total transparency, but I would disagree that the appropriate balance was no transparency at all.

 

[Paco Roca]

All 37 Songs | LEGO: Eurovision 2024 | #UnitedByMusic

Who is your favorite in this years contest? Watch and enjoy all acts with Lego bricks and figures. All 37 songs that will take part in the Eurovision Song Co...

youtu.be

 

[Ted Talks]

Maybe I'm just stupid, but those calling on Osterdahl to quit will achieve what exactly?

While he may be the exec producer of Eurovision, he won't be the only one calling the shots will he? He's the 'face' of things and with any organisation of this size is most likely following orders from someone else. He might be towing the official line too, but in private disagrees with what is happening for all we know.

It just seems weird to call for his head to go when if change has to happen, its the wider EBU that needs the rethink, not just Martin if you ask me.

I think the main point from all of this to take is that to the wider public, they'll still look at Eurovision as an escape for one night in May and nothing more. They'll come back next year and the year after etc. Whatever people think of this year and the calls for boycotts etc, I imagine that would be such a small minority of the wider viewership it will make no change to the EBU's decision making at all.

 

[ESC Athens]

I don't know if this info is true, but here it is:

Greece: ERT's shock confession for predetermined jury vote - Eurovision News | Music | Fun

A bombshell news that will disturb the already disturbed relations between RIK and ERT, was published a short while ago by the newspaper Ta Nea. The Ambassador of Cyprus lights fires The news, which is also on the cover of the newspaper, concerns an official document – an information letter from...

eurovisionfun.com

 

[MooseShoes]

This guy just posts one video every year and never lets us down!

 

[Realest]

Great Idea from my good Friend Christer.

Malmö 2024: Producers to get more “choice” in deciding Grand Final running order

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest introduces a change in how the Grand Final running order is decided. Artists can draw a performance in the First Half, in the Second Half, or there's now a brand-new third option!

eurovision.tv

 

[Leydan]

SVT host without some dramatic & pointless rule change challenge = impossible

That sounds absolute garbage. There is already a big lack of trust in the producers to create fair draws with how it is done now, why on Earth add more fuel to that fire.

 

[empo21]

Next time Sweden hosts they'll remove the half draw, probably.

Idk this seems very unnecessary to me and another unneeded power to the producers.

 

[Leydan]

also the big 5 draw their half/PC during a Reddit AMA apparently.

 

[crashworld]

Great Idea from my good Friend Christer.

Malmö 2024: Producers to get more “choice” in deciding Grand Final running order

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest introduces a change in how the Grand Final running order is decided. Artists can draw a performance in the First Half, in the Second Half, or there's now a brand-new third option!

eurovision.tv

What nuisance is this? So in reality, it is to give more power to the producers to punish a song if they don't think will do well into oblivious slots and help those favourites to get more favourable slots since the chances of getting a 2nd half and producer's choice will be higher?

Imagine if let's say if Albania qualifies to the GF and got the producer's choice. They will straight away be relegated to the 2nd and 3rd slot. Statistically this works less favourable for less popular entries.

Again, rigging the contest in favour of the favourites. What a disgrace.

 

[0scar]

This is bullshit I cannot believe this is actually what they came up with. I don't know why I'm still surprised when it's a SVT hosted year gosh, they are even pointing out in the article that it was Malmö 2013 the last time they changed the way the running order is determined

THEY SHOULD make a running order and then just draw what country has to perform first and base the rest of the running order on that pre-determined sequence of songs

 

[Loindici]

Great Idea from my good Friend Christer.

Malmö 2024: Producers to get more “choice” in deciding Grand Final running order

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest introduces a change in how the Grand Final running order is decided. Artists can draw a performance in the First Half, in the Second Half, or there's now a brand-new third option!

eurovision.tv

The third option is basically 'anywhere' but worded like corporate jargon.

also the big 5 draw their half/PC during a Reddit AMA apparently.

And the remaining qualifiers will draw theirs during a TikTok LIVE. I can't.

 

[Looren]

Why the hell would you do that ? I swear next time they'll host they'll just be like : "alright you don't get a say, we'll chose in which half everyone is"

 

[0scar]

I feel like SVT needs just two more wins for them to let the producers choose all the songs every country has to compete with

 

[lacrymea]

That's why I always love a Swedish win...

 

[ekzuu]

So when previously Albania (or another disadvantaged country) had a chance to not be in 1st half and thus positions 2-5 50%, now it has 18.75%

 

[Ted Talks]

Maybe I’m simple, but I don’t get all the fuss.

The producers are there to make the best possible for the TV audience. The contest has never been ‘fair’ and never will be. If a song is going to ‘kill’ a run of good songs, what producer would keep it there? None.

Just shouting ‘it’s rigged’ won’t change their minds. The general audience - the biggest viewers on the night - won’t give two hoots about who is performing when.

As ever, fans (and I’m speaking as one) are blowing things out of proportion.

 

[randajad]

Random draw is the best and the fairest, argue with a wall.