Save the Eurovision Songcontest

To:  Mr. Svante Stockselius (EBU)

The Eurovision Songcontest has attracted the interest of many since it was first founded in 1956. A small gathering of merely 7 West-European nations competing each other in a musical battle if only to improve international relations between them. And what a success it has become. For more than fifty years the Eurovision Songcontest has persuaded entire families to troop in front of a TV-screen to witness the festival of festivals together, and after more than fifty years the ‘Grande Dame’ of music can still be counted amongst the greatest events around with an average public of over 100 million viewers worldwide every single year.
Something has changed though! The founders of this event have gradually fallen into decline when it comes to the public interest their viewers have in the festival. This while other – same like – formats like Idols, Star Academy and X-factor harvest the same attention the mother of all festivals used to have there. We can take it as the truth that it isn’t the lack of interest for its format, but most likely the dishonour that its over-expansion has thrown upon its oldest members is to blame for the festivals’ downfall in these countries.
So, where did it all go wrong? We can’t deny that several new participants have the advantage of being surrounded by ex-fellow-countrymen (For example: The old Soviet Union nowadays counts as many as ten states in competition). And it’s only natural their points are being handed out ‘internal’ regardless the performance. Do we call this political voting? In a way we do yes. Apart from that, certain cultural regions expanded that much within the contest there aren’t many points left to share with other participating regions. All this makes shifting the balance in the favour of the so-called blocks like there are Scandinavia, the Ex-Soviet and the Balkan. Unfortunately for the most Western nations of the pack, diversity among them and the minority they form keeps pulling down their own results. Not to mention the large immigration which forms the strong Diasporas in favour of the blocks again.
What could be done to change this tendency? A controlled voting could work wonders. Aside of the ‘Televote’ being reduced to 50% of the final result, also the reinstatements of juries in every country should be placed under strict rules. I would even go as far as dividing all of the participants in four outspoken regions (with an equal amount of contestants). For example there could be introduced a Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western group*. The juries can be restricted to be only able to vote for another region than their own while the ‘Televote’ remains region-free.
Now this won’t solve the entire problem, and probably will not lift the West up to certain top-10 rankings, but it would mean a more honest and fair outcome.
There has to be made a change to the voting-system in order keep the festival ‘alive ‘n kicking’ as well as fun for every contestant’s home-public.
Sign this petition and let us all hope some drastic changes will be made in some near future!

* Regarding the 2008 participants list: Group North (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine), Group East (Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia), Group South (Albania, Andorra, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Malta, Moldova, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Turkey) and Group West (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, UK). These groups should be able to shift when other participants enter the competition (ability to keep them equal in amount). For instance when Kosovo should enter in the eastern group, Slovenia could shift west in addition to that.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Save the Eurovision Songcontest Petition to Mr. Svante Stockselius (EBU) was created by and written by Katty C. Peeters (katje98@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.