After review, a new director position will be created at the Eurovision Song Contest

The organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) have introduced a new director position following an independent report on this year’s contest. The contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has also been recommended to appoint a welfare producer to look after the wellbeing of the participants.

The new Eurovision Director will report to EBU Deputy Director General and Media Director Jean Philip De Tender. He will also oversee the show’s Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl. The new director, who has not yet been appointed, will also fill another new position: that of Eurovision Brand and Promotions Director, for which recruitment is also ongoing.

In an interview with diversity Commenting on the report, De Tender said the EBU would now consult its experts and members to decide whether to appoint a social producer as part of the competition or introduce another method to support the well-being of participants.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest entertainment platform in the world,” said De Tender. “If you’re Taylor Swift, it takes time to become as big as Taylor Swift. When you’re selected for the Eurovision Song Contest, suddenly – in most cases – an artist who is not so well known on a European or global level is on stage. And we’ve learned that we need to prepare all artists better.”

Among the changes being implemented is that artists, their delegations and domestic broadcasters will be more aware of the rules and obligations they must follow when taking part in the contest – including their behaviour towards fellow competitors. “We also have a duty of care towards the artists, but the artists must also understand what rules they are committing to when they take part in the Eurovision Song Contest,” said De Tender.

In May, the EBU, which runs the competition, announced it would appoint an independent industry expert to review this year’s competition. Controversies included the exclusion of Dutch competitor Joost Klein on the morning of the grand final for allegedly threatening a female crew member and the alleged bullying of Israeli competitor Eden Golan by fellow competitors.

Pernille Gaardbo, the expert behind the report, spoke to more than 50 people to prepare the recommendation, including a range of Eurovision stakeholders such as each country’s Head of Delegation, members of the contest’s Administrative Board and the EBU/ESC core team, to assess what could be done differently as the event celebrates its 70th anniversary next year.

“The EBU is a non-political organisation or a union of public broadcasters in Europe,” said De Tender. “So we are organising a non-political event. But as the event has become so big, you can see that geopolitical tensions can have an impact on the event and on the artists. We welcome freedom of expression. We saw the demonstrations in Malmö (against Israel’s participation in the contest after the conflict in the Middle East). As public media, it is very important that people can express their opinions and views. But the Eurovision Song Contest is non-political and must remain non-political.”

“We need to review the rules and think about how we can potentially find new ways to mitigate the impact of these external events,” he added. “What we have done so far is in line with what international sports federations have done. The Olympic Games, which start in a few weeks, have followed exactly the same guidelines as the Eurovision Song Contest.”

Other recommendations in the report, which are now being examined by a taskforce of senior executives from across the EBU, include potentially restricting backstage access and setting up a dedicated crisis management team.

In a statement accompanying the recommendations, the EBU said: “We are committed to ensuring that the Eurovision Song Contest continues to go from strength to strength and that all those involved, not least the participating broadcasters and the millions who enjoy the event, can be assured of our best intentions to maintain the success of this event which brings so much joy to millions of people around the world.”

For De Tender, who is already looking ahead to next year’s competition in Switzerland, the report is about “future-proofing” the competition so that it can continue to bring joy to future generations through music. “We saw countries on stage that were at war almost embracing each other because this stage is apolitical,” he said. “So it shows that it’s about respecting each other, respecting diversity and respecting inclusion.”