After a successful French national selection, many people in the country supported Les Fatals Picards who represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. But after yet another disappointing place near the bottom for the 3rd consecutive year, the competition seems to be losing credibility with the media and the French press, once more.

Once again, the reactions of the media after the contest stayed shy in France. After the successful E si on gagnait? national preselection organised by France 3 and French HoD Bruno Berberes , many saw Les Fatals Picards as potential winners. But Eurovision stayed finally in the silence of the French press after the results of the contest. Apart from brief mentions to the Serbian victory, not much else was said about the Eurovision Song Contest on TV. The same goes for the newspapers, which described, as usual, the event as a "kitsch contest". Nevertheless a silent and ironical polemic is growing in the reactions. The press are talking now about the "Contest of new Europe" and one also comes across titles such as "Eastern Europe in force". Le Monde, one of the biggest French newspapers, talked about a "politically incorrect Contest". Ukraine or Russia are particularly mentioned as the typical examples of a new generation of music, with provocation in the performance on stage and in the lyrics.
Naturally, what little mention is made about the contest and the poor result for France is overshadowed by the elections and the new Sarkozy government.

A special thanks to Yann Charpentier for the submission of the aerticle.