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This paper seeks to investigate the Eurovision Song Contest as an interactive media event, paying particular attention to the events following its May 2001 broadcast(s) in Australia. Most well known as the event that launched ABBA, “neighbourly voting”, as well as synchronised waving with harmonies, fans of the Eurovision Song Contest know that it offers so much more. Eurovision is at once a cultural event, a gay icon, a reason for family get-togethers, a serious musical event and a point of humour. Eurovision is an annual television event watched by more than 120 million television viewers in Europe alone (Eurovision Song Contest 2001). According to the BBC’s Eurovision website, the song contest was first staged in Switzerland in 1956; “it grew out of the Italian San Remo Song Festival . . . as a way of uniting the nations of post-war Europe.” The European Broadcasting Union website notes that Eurovision has been broadcast every year since 1956 in the majority of European countries. The song contest itself is held on one night in the European city which won the right to host it by winning the contest in the previous year. Yet the interest in the contest extends far beyond just one night. Months before Eurovision, there are hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who follow the National Contests where particular European countries select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.
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Eurovision is becoming an increasingly interactive media event. Fred Bronson writes, “the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest . . . was available as a live Webcast for the first time through sponsor Microsoft Network.” (2000) In the year 2001 Swedish viewers with access to digital TV could vote in the outcome of Eurovision via there TV remote control rather than their phone, with a service developed by Cell Interactive TV. Beyond its television coverage, the interest in Eurovisionis pervasive on the web. There are many highly active Eurovision mailing-lists as well as Eurovision and Eurovision-related websites ranging from the very serious and informative fansites to Eurovision “drinking games” to those who overtly ridicule Eurovision.
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As with most other popular culture products and pursuits, fans of Eurovision are passionate about this event, and zealous about their interaction with it. The most direct involvement of fans in Eurovision is their involvement in the outcome itself through “televoting” on the night of Eurovision. Televoting was phased in from 1997 to replace the long standing expert “jury voting” system which was thought by many to be outdated and elitist. So Eurovision was given to the fans, who now decide the outcome of Eurovision, phoning up during a five minute voting period following the performance of all of the songs. Fans cannot vote for their own country and can only vote if they live in Europe and their country broadcasts Eurovision live.
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This obviously eliminates Australian fans of the Eurovision Song Contest from affecting its outcome. Australian broadcaster SBS has televised this event since 1986 to a small, but loyal and ever increasing audience. Each year until 2001, SBS has taken a direct broadcast feed from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) or Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE), with the coverage being delayed by approximately 14 hours. Besides the telecast itself there is very little media coverage of Eurovision in Australia (unless something ‘controversial’ happens) apart from the occasional brief newspaper article. Australian fans have interacted with Eurovision primarily through internet and mailing-list coverage, but most importantly through watching the television broadcast itself.
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In 2001, SBS made the interesting move of heavily editing the British feed and creating an Australian studio broadcast of the Eurovision on the 13th May 2001. This took the form of a ‘Eurovision Party’ hosted by “Effie”, a well-known comic Greek-Australian character played by Mary Coustas. Instead of taking the traditional postcard introductions from the host country for each song, SBS created their own introductions using different European-Australians (some of them television personalities, some respected community members) introducing aspects of their culture to the viewer. A spokesperson from SBS suggested that "the idea for a studio party came from the notion that there are many second and third generation Australians who like to hear the view of their own nationality" (“SBS hits a sour note”). Perhaps believing that they were livening up an old formula, an Australian panel and Australian content would make the contest more relevant for younger Australians. Prior to the event, some television commentators saw this as a stroke of genius. Australian fans on Eurovision mailing lists were sceptical. The result of SBS’s editing was that much less of the original program was shown than usual. A cabaret performer sang two songs, the panel of Australian ‘judges’ discussed the songs (in what was largely interpreted to be a mocking, disinterested way), and the host encouraged viewers to e-mail or phone in their choices for winners of categories such as “best song”, “worst dance routine”, “best dance routine”, “best outfit” and “worst outfit” (the latter two categories attempted to appeal to the presumed kitsch campness of Eurovision). The actual Eurovision voting was also condensed, as was the reprise of the winning song.
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Following the telecast SBS received an unprecedented number of objections. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported that “SBS received a viewer backlash to their airing of the annual Eurovision Song Contest from Copenhagen on Sunday night . . . The SBS switchboard was overloaded with complaints”. Talk back was awash with the topic: news.com.au had a poll asking “what did you think of SBS’s coverage of Eurovision”, ABC radio carried an interview with a disgruntled SBS representative who called those who complained “Anglo-homophobes”, and Channel 10’s “The Panel” joked about how ubiquitous Eurovision had become. However the main source for negative feedback was SBS’s “Eurovision forum” (while some of the discussion has been removed, some can still be found at http://www.sbs.com.au/eurovision). The forum was implemented to be a discussion place for fans to review general aspects of Eurovision, however it became almost exclusively a site for angry protestation.
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Within the forum pages, the anger manifested within three recurring topics: SBS should not have edited the program - this alteration was an insult to loyal fans, SBS was not listening to fan complaints, and the Australian version contained a number of offensive cultural stereotypes. Many fans expressed feeling disempowered because SBS had presumed to know what they wanted. For example “Livid” wrote, “Don’t pretend to second guess what the audience wants”, and “Cameron” argued “SBS of all stations should understand that you do not need token Aussies in a coverage to make it relevant.” Believing that their interaction on the forum page was being ignored by SBS, forum contributors encouraged other fans to bombard SBS programming with complaint mail, also to write to SBS’s talkback program, and if this did not work, write to the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
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The result of the negative feedback was that SBS showed the full, unedited Eurovision BBC feed (they referred to it as “the director’s cut”) two weeks after the initial broadcast on the 27th May 2001. The SBS website announced, “there has been a lot of feedback about the SBS broadcast of the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest. The balance of comment was weighted toward those who preferred to watch the contest without the addition of Australian hosts. In response to viewers’ requests to see this year’s Eurovision Song Contest “uncut”, SBS will have a special screening of the broadcast at 2.30pm on Sunday, May 27” (SBS Eurovision website)
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Why were Australian fans so overwhelming against the changes implemented by SBS? Apart from the concerns stated above, there are a few more observations worth making that relate to television viewer/program interaction. SBS’s editing had removed many of the viewer-engagement aspects of a special event telecast such as Eurovision, for example the illusion of ‘liveness’ from the Eurovision broadcast. Despite the knowledge that the coverage of Eurovision is always delayed, taking a direct feed from the BBC or RTE maintained the illusion of ‘liveness’ for Australian viewers. SBS also heavily edited the host voice-over addresses, which also enhances audience engagement and familiarity. Despite reducing the familiarity of its television program, SBS’s changes presumed a specific audience for the Australian Eurovision audience: a second generation Australian who likes to mock Eurovision. As the forum comments demonstrated, the presumed identity of the viewers was a vehemently contested issue, and the diversity of the Eurovision audience was passionately asserted. The forum became the site for some intriguing and often discomforting debates about culture, nationality and homophobia.
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Perhaps SBS’s most significant failing was not realising that Australian viewers’ interactivity with Eurovision was already catered for by the increasing availability of internet media related to Eurovision, and for others, though perhaps not as visible, viewer interaction with the telecast as it stood. SBS sought to make viewer interaction overt, for example giving them the opportunity to see “relevant” Australian hosts, be part of a studio party, and (mock) vote in Eurovision via an SBS phone-in and website rather than to capitalise on the interactivity that had already been generated by their existing format. The SBS Eurovision forum became a location for Australian Eurovision fans to interact on a grand scale, probably for the first time. Ironically, through the forum, SBS increased the interactivity of Australian fans with Eurovision, but not in the way they had intended.
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11 | | Works Cited
BBC Eurovision Website. 19 September 2001
Bronson, Fred. “Danes Win at Eurovision.” Billboard 27/05/2000, 112. 22, 12
Bronson Fred and Jeffrey De Hart. “Estonia Wins Eurovision: 'Everybody' Surprise Victor Of Int'l Contest. Billboard 26/05/2001, 113. 21: 2.
The European Broadcasting Union website. 19 September 2001.
The Eurovision Song Contest. SBS Australia. 13 May 2001
The Eurovision Song Contest: The Director’s Cut. SBS Australia. 27 May 2001
“The Eurovision Song Contest.” New Media Age. May 17 2001: 5
SBS Eurovision Website. 14 May 2001.
“SBS hits a sour note.” The Daily Telegraph 15 May 2001 [retrieved electronically]
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12 | | Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Kate Douglas. "Increasing the Interactivity: The Eurovision Song Contest and Australian Viewers" M/C Reviews 25 Oct. 01. [your date of access] <http://www.media-culture.org.au/reviews/features/interactive/kdouglas.html>.
Chicago style:
Kate Douglas, "Increasing the Interactivity: The Eurovision Song Contest and Australian Viewers," M/C Reviews 25 Oct. 01, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/reviews/features/interactive/kdouglas.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Kate Douglas. (2000) Increasing the Interactivity: The Eurovision Song Contest and Australian Viewers. M/C Reviews 25 Oct. 01. <http://www.media-culture.org.au/reviews/features/interactive/kdouglas.html> ([your date of access]). | |
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