MaltaMedia.com

MaltaMedia’s creative director Toni Sant insists that Malta needs to re-think the process by which it chooses its songs for the Eurovision Song Contest and how these are presented across Europe. Dr Sant was commenting in the wake of the latest debacle for Malta which on Tuesday failed to qualify for the Eurovision Final to be held this Saturday in Oslo, Norway. Despite a good performance from Thea Garrett, a mixture of judges’ voting and televoting did not propel her to the final.

“PBS must radically rethink the way it selects the songs it sends to Eurovision as well as how the selected performers are presented on the international stage,” according to Toni Sant who is in Oslo. “The long-standing way of doing things clearly doesn’t work and is indeed a waste of money. Worse still, it’s a wasted opportunity to promote some of the excellent musical talent emanating from the Maltese islands.

“To really get its value for money from the Eurovision Song Contest, Malta must spend more than €400,000 a year, not less. The real problem right now is that there is no ROI (return on investment) analysis on the process. No strategic plan. No accountability. And no continuity or development on long-term experience gained from entering acts in the contest year after year. Then again, PBS has a remit to do public broadcasting and the Eurovision Song Contest is strictly a public broadcasting service, rather than a commercial concern. Done right, there is plenty of milage to be had from the Eurovision Song Contest, even for acts/countries that don’t win the contest. The alternative is to spend a lot less and still take part just to be there. After all, there’s a great game element in the whole thing anyway.”

Dr Sant also spoke at length about this to SBS radio in Australia, where hundreds of thousands of people from European diasporas follow the contest every year.

Full details about Malta’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest are always available at EurovisionMalta.com.