EBU and DR Press Conference

On stage were: Pernille Gaardbo, (Executive Producer DR), Jan Lagermand Lundme, (Show Producer DR),  Jon Ola Sand, (Executive Supervisor EBU) and Sietse Bakker, (Event Supervisor EBU).

The conference started with the two members from DR explaining the concepts behind the 2014 contest, with the use of the huge rough shipyard building and the glamourou, glitzy television show inside, it was like a diamond ina rock and thus they came up with the logo that reflects the many facets of Europe.

The ideas behind  # Join Us through the increased use of social media will be seen in all three shows. A good example being the opening film in Semi-Final One, that will feature the short video clips of hundred of viewers from all over Europe, singing the #Join Us song. Maybe your contribution will be seen by millions of viewers?

Jan Lagermand Lundme also showed three of the postcards that will feature in the shows, those from Austria, Belarus and the United Kingdom, all of them are very cleverly produced, and the fun will be in watching how the national flags come together. With the more complex flags, such as the one from Belarus, they have come up with an inventive solution in an ice rink, whilst the United Kingdom flag uses London buses in their postcard.

A couple of the features called the Eurovision Book Of Records were also shown to the journalists, including the most use of silver in a song, and the most La, La's in a song. Can you guess which entries have taken these records?

The EBU explained that one of the reasons the Eurovision Song Contest has been around for nearly 60 years is that it is being adapted to the spirit of time, and that they need to keep improving.

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Tighter controls on voting

Last year, there has been a lot of interest for attempts to unfairly influence the voting. Televoting already very tight, last year’s attempts have not been effective. With the Jury and split results the EBU checked all the results.

The biggest changes this year are with the juries, with the aim to have a balance of music professionals and between their ages and sex. There were requests made to five countries to make changes in the jury composition.

This year they will announce all split televoting and jury results ánd the individual jury rankings straight after the final here on Eurovision.tv

There will be a tighter procedure alike in football; in that the broadcaster will always be held responsible, and there is a possibility of a three-year exclusion from the contest as sanction.

There have been a lot of hypothetical questions, particularly relating to the situation in Crimea at the moment. The voting in Crimea depends on the operator in place. If Ukrainian operator, vote counts for Ukraine. If Russian operator, vote counts for Russia. It  currently appears there is still a Ukrainian operator active, so votes at the moment from Crimea count for Ukraine.

The EBU have been in close contact with both delegations several times, as ultimately the aim is to get the best result on stage and in the promotion. It is a lot of responsibility on the yuoung artists representing both countries, and there are certainly no issues between the delegations themselves.

Should either country win, then the EBU will look at the criteria they always take into account with the host broadcaster and authorities, whoever it might be, and that is firm guarantees on the financial obligations, and most importantly on security issues. That everyone should feel safe and have freedom of press, and respect for human and social rights, There has been a proud tradition that the winning country (with a few exceptions) has hosted the following year's contest, and it is hoped that will continue.

60th Anniversary

Regarding the 60th anniversary in 2015., there have been various ideas, including an initiative from the German member NDR, but no decision has been reached yet. The EBU expect to take a decision in the months to come, as it also could depend on who the Host Broadcaster is or 2015?