An open letter to the BBC regarding Eurovision
Posted: 18 Aug 2013, 21:31
[ADDRESSES ETC]
Dear Sir/Ma’am,
QUALITY AND SELECTION PROCESS OF THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
I am writing to complain over the on-screen attitude by Scott Mills, Ana Matronic, and Graham Norton towards the Eurovision Song Contest, the poor quality of the BBC’s selection process, and the poor quality of the ‘internally chosen’ entrants. As a Eurovision Song Contest fan, I find it insulting that the BBC encourages us to laugh and make fun of the Eurovision Song Contest, whilst clearly trying not to win. I find this unacceptable when the UK has such a good historic record at the Eurovision Song Contest. Since 2011, the BBC has not let the public have any say in the United Kingdom’s contestant for the Eurovision Song Contest and no choice of song since 2008.
Firstly, the BBC encourage the viewing public in the United Kingdom to have ‘Eurovision parties’ and ‘drinking games’, whereupon the viewer is encouraged by commentator Graham Norton for the Grand Final (and to a lesser extent by Scott Mills and Ana Matronic for the Semi Finals) to drink a shot of alcohol every time there is a ‘gimmick’ or pyrotechnic on stage. This mocks the Eurovision Song Contest, which was set up to promote peace across a post-war Europe, and mocking another country is not in the contest’s intentions. This is also hypocritical of the BBC, as countless times on other programmes the viewer is force-fed information to discourage the consumption of alcohol. In addition, it is clear to the viewer that Matronic, Mills, and Norton do not want to win the contest, as they do not take the contest seriously and they often cheer on other artists. For example, in 2013, Matronic supported the Montenegrin entry, “Igranka”, and Norton supported the Irish entry, “Only Love Survives”. I understand that the BBC is supposed to be impartial, but this does not stop the sports presenters cheering on British athletes, such as Ben Edwards’s favouritism of Lewis Hamilton and Max Chilton and David Coulthard’s favouritism of Paul di Resta. There is, therefore, a serious lack of support for the United Kingdom’s entries in the Eurovision Song Contest from the BBC. It would also be beneficial if the Facebook and Twitter accounts (“BBC Eurovision” and “@BBCEurovision”) were used all year, as per the official European Broadcasting Union accounts on Facebook and Twitter (“Eurovision Song Contest” and “@Eurovision”). The BBC Eurovision website should also be regularly updated during the ‘off-season’.
Secondly, the BBC has not given the viewer any input for three consecutive years (at the time of writing) over who will represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest. In addition, the viewer has not had any input over song choice since 2008. The BBC laid too much of the decision to one particular individual when the BBC could be bothered to put together a proper selection process with multiple heats and semi finals in recent times: Sir Terry Wogan in 2008, Lord Lloyd Webber in 2009. In 2008, Sir Terry Wogan elected to keep in Andy Abraham after being rejected by the viewing public in his first heat. Abraham eventually went on to represent the United Kingdom and finished last. In 2009, Lord Lloyd Webber elected to keep in Jade Ewen in the Semi Finals of Eurovision: Your Country Needs You!, despite being rejected by the public. Lord Lloyd Webber later regretted his decision, saying that if the United Kingdom had picked a different artist, then ‘we [the United Kingdom] could have come second’. Prior to 2008 (and in 2010), the selection process was often shown on one night only, and prior to 2004, with a cheap Semi Final on BBC Radio 2. I would suggest that BBC Radio 1 have some input in Eurovision: Your Country Needs You! or some form of selection show with multiple heats and Semi Finals (such as Melodifestivalen), as the target audience of BBC Radio 2 is different to the vast majority of European voters, whereas the target audience of BBC Radio 1 is rather similar.
Lastly, the BBC does not appreciate that sending a big name does not guarantee success, as was shown with the failure of Engelbert Humperdinck in 2012 and relative failures of Blue in 2011 and Bonnie Tyler in 2013. Bonnie Tyler may be my favourite musical artist, but the song just wasn’t good enough at the end of the day (I preferred the entry from San Marino, “Crisalide (Vola)”, which did not make it through the Semi Finals). In addition, the BBC hammers home the ‘political’ aspect to the viewer, despite the fact that rule changes since 2009 make the contest less political, and it is possible for countries such as Germany to win, as they did in 2010, by a significant margin. The BBC should not be wilfully blind to Germany winning and say that politics is why the United Kingdom cannot win. If anything, the United Kingdom enjoys a political advantage from Ireland every year, whereas Germany does not have any voting ‘partners’ or blocs. This shows that the United Kingdom can win the contest. It would also not be too expensive; it would cost a fraction of the BBC’s budget. According to The Guardian, the BBC spends £2,975,000,000 per year. The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 cost Swedish television company SVT, when converted to GBP, £12,390,000. This was easily regained by SVT, as the Eurovision Song Contest brought in advertising and ticketing revenue, when converted to GBP, of £107,905,600. This shows that the United Kingdom, with a far bigger economy and budget than Sweden, can afford to host the contest.
I hope that the United Kingdom can be restored, on a regular basis, to its former Eurovision Song Contest glory.
Yours Faithfully,
RHYS BENJAMIN
