In a special EBU press conference various Eurovision issues were discussed.
The press conference was hosted by Ulla Essendrop while Jon Ola Sand, Sietse Bakker, Pernille Gaardbo and Jan Lagermand Lundme were available for questions from those attending the press-only event.
The conference opened with explanations of the themes behind this year’s contest, mainly the logo and the choice of venue. The show’s producer, Jan Lagermand Lundme, showed some snippets of the postcards, and explained the concept behind them.
Jon Ola Sand took time to discuss the previous year’s voting scandals, stating he’s ‘pissed off’ with the situation. He says that publishing the names of all 185 jury members will create more openness, and continued monitoring of televotes will be enforced even more by Digame and PwC. The full voting details, including individual rankings of every national jury, will be made available immediately after the final on 10 May. It was also made clear that votes coming from Crimea will be placed towards either Ukraine or Russia, depending on the telecommunications provider.
Mr. Sand also confirmed that the German broadcaster NDR is interested in hosting a special show next year for the 60th anniversary of the contest, and that further information will be revealed in due course.
Like last year, 2013 winner Emmelie de Forest will open the first semi-final on 6 May. It was also announced that the official Eurovision Song Contest App, which has seen over 1 million downloads, will also allow viewers to vote directly from the app, depending on the country they are accessing from, similar to last year’s contest.
Issues like the withdrawal of Turkey and the lyric change of Belarus where also discussed, but no further statements were made from what had already been shared previously.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 will be held on 6, 8 and 10 May.
Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more news live from Copenhagen.
