Eurovision Song Contest voting shenanigans

France is unhappy with the way voting is conducted at the Eurovision Song Contest.

And the head of entertainment at France television, Nicolas Pernikoff, is calling for a change in the system.

The singing might be over and the votes counted but once again it's the way the latter are tallied that is making the headlines.

According to a report in the weekly news magazine, Le Point, Nicolas Pernikoff, the head of entertainment at France Television, is unhappy with the current 50-50 split between national juries and the viewing public.

Apparently, says Le Point, there were negotiations going on in the corridors of the hotel at which various delegations were staying during last weekend's contest in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

Alliances were created to exchange points and Twitter used to influence the vote of juries in countries who would be allocating points at the end of the competition.

"It's a scandal and we'll bring it up at the next committee meeting of Eurovision," said Pernikoff.

"I'll also put forward a motion that only the vote of the viewing public be taken into consideration," he added.

"Why should there be juries involved?"

Voting at Eurovision has long been a subject of controversy with accusations of political bias, skulduggery and geographical and cultural blocs playing their part in influencing the outcome.

It's a complicated process, perhaps most clearly explained by this year's official website.

Put briefly, the vote last Saturday began as the first contestant took to the stage and finished after the last of the 25 entries had been sung.

The tallies were then announced from around Europe; each of the 39 participating countries (including those who had been knocked out in the semi-finals) awarding points (from one to twelve) based on a 50:50 based on a 50-50 combination of televoting and national juries.

The system was one introduced by the European Broadcasting Union, under whose auspices Eurovision is produced, for the 2009 final with Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest saying at the time that it would make the outcome of the competition "more interesting".

"Nothing is more democratic than the vote of the public," the official Eurovision website quotes Stockselius as saying when the decision to establish the mixed voting was announced.

"But a jury takes the opportunity to listen to the songs several times, before they make up their minds."

Just for the record, France finished 12th with Jesse Matador's "Allez Ola Olé"

Jessy Matador is Oslo-bound for France

It's official.

This year's French entry at the annual musical jamboree, the Eurovision Song Contest, will be sung by Jessy Matador.

Who?

You might well ask!

Probably unknown to many in this country, the choice was immediately seen by those "in the know" as a sure-fire way of France not winning the annual music shindig.

Instead it's apparently a clever marketing ploy to create a buzz for Matador and France Television ahead of the World Cup finals in South Africa.

Confused? Then read on.



First up though, for those of you out there who haven't got a clue what the Eurovision Song Contest is, here's the very briefest of summaries.

It's an annual competition which many music aficionados dread but the viewing public seems to love (to hate perhaps).

It began back in 1956 when just seven countries entered and has under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) grown and become something of an institution with millions tuning in to watch the very best and worst of what Europe has to offer - musically speaking.

This year it'll be coming from Oslo as Norway won the competition last time around and with it the honours to play host.

If you're really intent on finding out more about it, here's a more exhaustive (exhausting?) explanation.

So back to France and the decision to send a relative unknown - even within this country - to Oslo.

There is apparently more at stake than winning Eurovision, at least as far as France Television is concerned according to Gaëlle Placek, a journalist for the weekly television and entertainment magazine, Télé Loisirs.

http://www.jeanmarcmorandini.com/article-36150-exclu-eurovision-jessy-matador-pour-representer-la-france.html

She insists that the decision is a mainly commercial one, with any tune Matador might sing standing little chance of winning and instead France Television banking on promoting the song to become its summer hit.

Such thinking doesn't require the leap of imagination as might at first appear.

Matador, who originally comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a style of music that combines African and Caribbean influences and has already had a summer hit ("Décalé Gwada") in this country.

Just as importantly the Eurovision Song Contest takes place just a couple of weeks before the guaranteed money-spinning (for television stations among others) World Cup kicks off In South Africa.




And of course France Television will be one of the channels broadcasting matches throughout the competition.

Indeed the whole theory of a marketing ploy seemed to be more or less confirmed by Nicolas Pernikoff, the head of entertainment for France Television, in revealing the choice of Matador to represent the country in Oslo.

He said that the singer would be going into the studio shortly to record the French entry and that it would also serve as the summer hit for France 2 television.

Some French fans of Eurovision - yes apparently they do exist - might be upset that a more popular artist hasn't been chosen to represent France, and that the move goes against the spirit of the contest.

After all along with Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, France is one of the so-called Big Four, financial contributors without which the contest would have difficulty being staged.

But since last winning Eurovision back in 1977 with Marie Myriam's "L'oiseau Et L'enfant", France has had a pretty dismal record.

Not even the presence in Moscow last year of a big gun in the form of Patricia Kaas could guarantee the country victory. She managed a disappointing eighth place.

So perhaps the choice of Matador makes sound business sense, spares (French) viewers the seemingly interminable process of choosing a representative favoured by many other countries such as Germany, which is currently holding a weekly televised knock-out show of Eurovision wannabees warbling their hearts out in "Unser Star für Oslo".

And it cuts down on the suspense at the end of May when the whole Eurovision delight hits French TV screens for several hours as nobody here will really expect France to win anyway.