Usually, we, Eurostory, conclude our Eurovision coverage with an article in which we draw some conclusions about various aspects of the festival. This year, we don’t feel like we can do that again, so we’re writing this piece before the final and are thus concluding our coverage for this year.

It feels as if the Eurovision Song Contest, in its original form – unifying, joyful, and gentle – has become a plaything of harsh opinions and weak decisions.

This is partly due to the polarized times we live in, but also because the European Broadcasting Union, by not choosing to exclude Israel at a much earlier stage, now seems to have lost all control – thus, like a teacher unable to maintain order, inexplicably strict focusing on trivialities. We’re not specifically referring to the exclusion of Joost Klein (of which we don’t yet know the details), but rather to the overall incidents, unrest, and so-called non-political policy.

With that, the Song Contest as we know it and have grown fond of has been compromised. The direction in which Eurovision will move is unpredictable, but with this leadership, we fear the worst.

We, the editorial team of Eurostory, no longer feel that we can continue to report on it in our usual manner. Whether and how we will do so in the future? That’s something we’ll be thinking about in the coming period.

 

Thank you for reading our articles,
and for now, warm regards,

Zeno Kapitein, Jelmer Soes, Lars Koning, and Edward van de Vendel.”