Latest news with #EurovisionNewsSpotlight
The Journal
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Eurovision to review ‘promotion' of acts to ensure audience voting is not ‘disproportionally affected'
THE DIRECTOR OF the Eurovision Song Contest has said it will 'look at the promotion of acts by their delegations and associated parties' to ensure 'such promotion is not disproportionally affecting' the audience voting. It comes after Eurovision News Spotlight, an independent news branch of the EBU, published a report which found that an Israeli government agency paid for adverts targeting the Eurovision public vote. The Israeli Government Advertising Agency, which serves various government offices, placed advertisements across Google products, such as YouTube, and provided instructions on how to vote up to 20 times for the country's representative. While such promotion is permitted, concern has been raised that this runs against the spirit of the contest. Voting in Eurovision can be done through the official app (with a limit of 20 votes per person, each costing €0.99), as well as via telephone and SMS. Israel's entrant, Yuval Raphael, finished in second place and her performance received 297 public votes—the highest number of public votes for any act in the Grand Final. Israel had ranked 14th after the jury vote and ended up coming second to Austria after the audience votes were included. Advertisement Analysis carried out by Eurovision News Spotlight of a20 YouTube account created on 20 April , with the username @Vote4NewDayWillRise, found that it published 89 videos between 6 May and 16 May, amassing over 8.3 million views. Meanwhile, Spain's public broadcaster RTVE this week called on Eurovision organisers to investigate the Spanish televote, after the country gave its highest score to Israeli act Yuval Raphael. Here at home, RTÉ also 'requested a breakdown in voting numbers from the EBU' , which is essentially an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area. In an open letter today by the director of the Eurovision , Martin Green, he said that EBU 'will be looking at is the promotion of our acts by their delegations and associated parties'. While Green said 'such promotion is allowed', he added: 'We want to ensure that such promotion is not disproportionally affecting the natural mobilization of communities and diasporas we see in all entertainment audience voting.' He also acknowledged that 'all audience voting shows evidence of the motivation of communities or diasporas around certain contestants'. 'This can be for many reasons,' said Green, 'including personal attributes, back stories, geographic affiliations and current affairs.' Voting is limited to 20 per payment method and Green said 'there is no current evidence that it disproportionally effects the final result'. However, he said the 'the question has been asked and so we will look at it'. Related Reads Actor Stephen Rea joins pro-Palestine demonstration calling for Irish boycott of Eurovision Bakhurst says RTÉ won't pull Irish entry out of Eurovision despite protests against Israel Green also said he 'wants to make sure any ancillary conversations do not overshadow this epic achievement' by the winner JJ of Austria. He said the voting system 'includes multiple security layers' and that all results are verified through the contests voting partner, Once Germany, Green said Once 'collectively have over 40 years of voting experience' and added that 'independent compliance monitor EY oversees and authenticates the results'. He added that the Reference Group for the Eurovision studies the voting data after each contest to 'ensure our rules and systems remain fail safe and take into account contemporary external factors such as advances in technology and external influences'. Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Palestine? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online. Visit Knowledge Bank Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
The National
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Israeli government paid for ads to promote Eurovision song, probe says
An investigation by Eurovision News Spotlight – which is operated by the EBU, the body that also manages and runs the song contest – found that videos from a YouTube account without obvious links to the Israeli Government had been pushed to people in European countries who could vote for Israel in both the Eurovision finals and semi-finals. The probe found that the Israeli Government Advertising Agency had paid Google to promote the videos, which urged people to back Israel's Eurovision entry Yuval Raphael – and reminded people that they could vote 'up to 20 times'. A YouTube video which the Israeli Government paid to be shown to people in the UK: Israel's entrant – who had survived the Hamas attacks of October 7 – came first in the public vote in the Eurovision Song Contest over the weekend, but was knocked into second place behind Austria after juries' scores were counted. Eurovision News Spotlight reported that analysis of a YouTube account, created on April 20 and named @Vote4NewDayWillRise – the name of Raphael's song, published 89 videos over 10 days ahead of the contest, amassing over 8.3 million views on the platform. The YouTube account in question is based in Israel, but its operator is not public. It links to the Israeli Government were revealed through the Google Ads Transparency Center, which showed who paid to promote the videos. READ MORE: UK, France, and Canada issuing warning to Israel as attacks on Gaza ramp up The Eurovision News Spotlight investigation found that 'on May 16, the day before the grand final, the channel published 73 videos targeting 35 countries, urging the public to vote for Israel and reminding them to vote for #04, Israel's designated number for the final'. The UK, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, and host country Switzerland were among the nations whose voting public gave Israel the maximum 12 points. On Monday, Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said that Israel should not be included in the song contest any longer. "Nobody was up in arms when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began three years ago and [Russia] had to leave international competitions and could not take part, as we have just seen, in Eurovision,' Sanchez said. READ MORE: Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez calls Israel a 'genocidal state' "Therefore Israel shouldn't either, because what we cannot allow is double standards in culture." "Spain's commitment to international law and human rights must be constant and must be coherent," he added. "Europe's should be too." Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, a member of the EBU, also released a short statement, saying: 'When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.' The broadcaster risked a fine with the statement, as the EBU had warned against mentions of Gaza.
