Eurovision’s Executive Supervisor, Martin Österdahl, has recently given an interview to Swedish outlet Dagens Industri/DI ahead of this year’s competition. The article, which can found here, has been translated by friend of the site Daniel Stridh on Twitter/X.
Setting out the state of the competition
In a wide-ranging interview, we hear his thoughts on Israel and Azerbaijan’s inclusion in the contest, Russia’s expulsion, the abuse aimed towards artists, and the safety of the contest, as well as his reflections on his career up to this point, and his work as an author.
“We’ve been at the absolute peak of security for many years”
Despite fears having been raised over the inclusion of Israel, in light of the country’s conflict with Palestine and the resulting political fallout creating an increased security risk, Österdahl maintains that the safety of the competition will not be compromised.
He says: “We’ve been at the absolute peak of security for many years, so the audience and crew that are working on this for eight-or-nine weeks straight can be safe. Will there be demonstrations? Very probable? Will it feel a little uncomfortable and could it get violent? Possibly. Will the police be able to handle it? Yes, I think so”.
“KAN is the direct opposite [of Russia’s broadcaster]”
The interview also touches on the controversy stirred by both the EBU’s refusal to expel Israel, and Eurovision allowing their song, Hurricane (formerly titled October Rain), to compete in this year’s competition. This is despite Russia and Belarus having recently been expelled for politicising the contest, Russia withing the context of their war of aggression against Ukraine.
For Österdahl, the situations are not comparable: “The disinformation that was spread about the invasion of Ukraine was what was too much for us in the end. But while the Russian broadcasters are Putin’s and the Kremlin’s extended arm, the Israeli broadcaster KAN is the direct opposite. Netanyahu has been trying to shut it down. And it’s the independent public service broadcasters that we have to support.“
An apolitical contest?
This viewpoint will be seen as controversial by many. Here at That Eurovision Site, we have taken the decision to not cover Israel’s participation in the contest as a response to what we, and many other fan sites, see as the politicisation of the contest by Israeli public broadcaster, KAN. Nevertheless, Österdahl believes that Eurovision is not a space for politics: “The only thing we can control are those three minutes on stage, and that’s why I sometimes get frustrated when lots of people want to make politics out of the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Azerbaijan in the clear
To this end, the concerns over Azerbaijan’s continued presence in Eurovision is called into question. However, as this concern is unable to be framed within the context of Azerbaijani public broadcaster AZTV’s relative independence, this concern rings hollow: “We’ve had reasons to point things out regarding Azerbaijan. It’s not exactly a democracy and sometimes you can question AZTV’s independence. But they’ve not yet crossed the line like Russia“.
“Artists shouldn’t feel afraid”
The contest’s Executive Supervisor is keen to push back against the abuse sustained by artists ahead of this year’s contest, which chimes with a statement put out by the EBU on April 10th. He comments that, “There’s a lot of hate in the media and on social media, against the participants and those that work with this. Hate doesn’t belong in the Eurovision Song Contest and we will fight back pretty hard against that. We’re past what we can tolerate now – artists shouldn’t feel afraid of expressing their artform because there’s a conflict somewhere else in the world that they have nothing to do with. It’s absolutely absurd.”
Towards a more commercial competition
Regarding the future of the competition, Österdahl asserts his pragmatism when dealing with the question of commercial partnerships, and the ability of the contest to thrive in the modern televisual landscape. He notes that, “The contest was financed every year by the participation fee, but the production has grown so much and become so much more expensive that today, the fee’s a very small part of the required budget
On the size of the competition and its future, he stresses that, “We have more followers on YouTube than UEFA and the Oscars, and we can compare our size to all other big, international events like the Olympics and the MTV Music Awards on pretty much every social media … it’s very easy to critique it if you are wasting public service money and not using the commercial potential that it comes with … Without commercial revenue, I think it’ll be tough for the Eurovision Song Contest to survive in the future”
“We can’t forget that there’s so much to celebrate”
The interview end on a positive note. After discussing his background studying Russia and Eastern Europe, his work in the region, his background and career as an author, Österdahl says he is looking forward to another fantastic show: “The higher purpose – to be United by Music and be as inclusive as we possibly can – it’s not less important, rather the opposite.”
And for him, who began his tenure at the head of the competition ahead of the ill-fated 2020 edition, the stress and complication of this year is one he and the competition are well able to weather: “When I started it was the first year the Eurovision Song Contest was unable to go ahead due to the pandemic. Because there wasn’t any financial backup and all revenue disappeared there was just a big black hole of costs and insurance conflicts. That’s where 1 had to start, and my goal was clear: Eurovision has to come back next year or it might be over forever … Nothing is comparable to that. If you could survive the pandemic, everything else is fine”
What do you think of Martin Österdahl‘s comments? Are you looking forward to this competition as normal this year? As always, let us know what you think by commenting down below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we prepare for Eurovision 2024!
News Source: Dagens Industri/Daniel Stridh
Photo Credit: Sören Vilks
Rory Gannon 
Michelle C