Welcome to another edition of the ESC Insight Newsletter for another week. The latest edition of the Newsletter is out and ready to view here.
This week our team are in Vienna and are ready to do all the reporting you need. We are giving the highlights of who to follow for all the latest updates from the Eurovision world and the best of what we have from the rest of the web. Newsletter Editor Ben Robertson also gives his opinions on the latest Eurovision world news, which today features sausages. Lots of sausages. We are talking about the Eurovision Press Packs that each member of press gets on arrival, with Ben arguing that, despite being really grateful, maybe we don’t need quite all this junk.
In reality it’s amazing considering the cost scrutiny that Eurovision has been under that such demand exists for the expensive reels of Eurovision fluff exist every year. I vaguely remember being told that it costs the EBU figures approaching one thousand Euros to prepare each and every Press Member. It’s humbling for all I feel, whether fan bloggers or big shot, that the press get such a strong attention, and yes you can see where all that money goes. It’s not lingering around this year either, the Press Centre got it’s own official launch yesterday and through the tourist board people can sign up for five free trips including bungee jumping off TV towers, river cruises and a performance in the Golden Hall famous for the New Year’s Day Concerts (we’ve gone for the Spanish riding school on Friday and a wine tasting lunch on Monday).
This effort goes above and beyond the usual by a very long way to making the Press feel special, and by gosh am I not complaining one little bit. I’m always taken aback by even the little benefits we get, from free snacks in the Press Centre to confusing all bus drivers with our accreditation acting as public transport tickets. What I do question though is if it all makes it value for money? After all, even the gripes we all had about the infrastructure from last year were not really that newsworthy as regardless to our conditions the Song Contest rightly was the thing that took the main focus.
To continue reading the rest of Robertson’s Reflection and all the other trappings of the Newsletter click onto this link. If you would like to sign up for the ESC Insight Newsletter to be delivered directly to your inbox sign up here. The newsletter will be written every two days during the Eurovision fortnight.