Eurovision Conspiracies
October 7, 2007
Back in the good ol' days, what you saw was what you got at the annual Eurovision Song Contest. But since the 21st century dawned, the event has been dominated by Eastern Europe -- from Estonia in 2001 to Latvia in 2002, Ukraine in 2004, through to Serbia in 2007.
According to the conspiracy theorists, the whole thing is rigged. The Eastern Europeans call in to vote for one another, they say, in a concerted effort to ostracize the West.
Old Europe is sulking, and it doesn't help that countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Britain are those who foot the lion's share of the event's bill. The whining reached unprecedented heights after the last contest, which saw Marija Serifovic from Serbia sing her way to victory in Helsinki. Moreover, eight of the top 10 were from eastern nations.
A number of defeated countries, who shall remain nameless though they also have their own voting peculiarities, subsequently wasted no time calling on their broadcasters to boycott the event.
The rules
Although the controversies do nothing to detract from the contest's popularity, with over 100 million TV viewers turning in for the annual schmaltz fest, fair play is apparently still a consideration.
German public broadcaster NDR, which represents Germany in the contest committee, this week said on its Web site that the 42 participating countries have now agreed on new rules for the final in Belgrade next May.
According to the new guidelines, automatic entry to the final for the 10 best-placed nations of the previous year -- usually Eastern Europeans -- is to be abolished, excepting the first-place winner and, as before, the four big nations.
In next year's semi-finals, the first nine spots in each semi-final will be chosen by phone.
Moreover, this year's semi-final, two days before the final, is to be replaced next year by two semi-finals.
A panel of judges will pick the 24th and last entrant to the final.
"It's an attempt to get a more balanced array in the final," said Manfred Witt, the NDR official on the song contest committee.
In a reference to last year's debacle, Witt said he hoped the former Soviet and Yugoslav republics would be scattered between the two semi-finals so that the shared tastes of those two blocs' viewers no longer weighted the voting.
Who says politics and music don't mix?
The Eurovision is as famous for its highly charged voting system as it is for its music.
It can be hard to ignore the obvious political alliances dictating who gets "douze points" and who gets "nul."
The contest has long been perceived as a political institution, where judges and televoters award points based first and foremost on political affiliations.
While Greece likes to awards the maximum to Cyprus, for example, Turkey gives it the cold-shoulder. But more to the point, countries such as Estonia and Latvia can always rely on their former Soviet Bloc neighbors -- explaining the results of recent years.
But now the goal posts have been moved, and it's up to the music. In 2008, may the best band win.