Eurovision of all time

surrounded by scandals, Demonstrations, threats of a boycott and extremely poor handling by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) brought Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) final to a close. This was primarily due to EBU member Sveriges TV, which presented a full broadcast with no extra minutes. Saturday's final in Malmö was a fantastic television production.

Seriousness hangs in the balance during the week of the show. On the rooftops, armed police were watching everything. It is natural that the presence of the police and the image of threats cast a dark shadow over the events, and this also confirms that politics cannot be kept away from such events.

Boycott is not NRK's ​​job

ESC Participant Israel Serious violations of international law in Gaza were the main reason for the tender, but overall it has become unfortunate that security measures have become so extreme even when it comes to something that is supposed to be fun.

The Swedes turned to magic. They put two driven and selfless bidders on the case. It was over, they had just the right amount of satirical distance for the wild performances and reached the semi-finals and final of the high TV category.

Just the ability to hold on It's important to have a somewhat informal approach, while taking all contributions seriously. The same applies to the implementation of three spot-free international TV broadcasts. Sweden's advantage is also that it cannot be considered income for one reason or another. There may of course be objections to moving the final to Malmö, a city with great contradictions, but it also worked out well.

The discussion surrounding Israel's participation will naturally leave its mark on the discussion, but the vote may indicate that people have largely voted with the song, although we in Norway may have felt in a different mood. Among the media, Dagsavisen probably received the honorary award when, before the final, they gave the results for all countries, except Israel, because they found that “It is impossible to evaluate the Israeli contribution without seeing it in the context of the political and humanitarian situation in Gaza.”.

Let Israel shoot itself in the foot

The fact that some Israeli activists used all 20 of their phone votes as a kind of declaration of support for the state turned out to be of little consequence. The fact that the Norwegian jury awarded Israel eight points also shows that the participants there (minus one) were able to separate the two matters.

The jury breaks its silence

Ståheien contributed to 1.4 million people watching the broadcast on Saturday. The combination of shows, conflicts and scandals is something people love. Of course, the list of things that need to be evaluated is almost endless, but the bottom line is that people love ESC more than ever and are already looking forward to next year.