Rights to host the Eurovision Song Contest were awarded to Azerbaijan’s public broadcaster Ictimai TV after victory by singing duo Ell & Nikki in May 2011.

The event is an occasion to showcase the host country, to send what may be for some viewers, a postcard from within. But the contest has also focused attention on issues that the host country is less happy to acknowledge.

Human rights activists have questioned whether the Contest should be hosted in a country with a less than perfect human rights record. At the same time, however, NGOs recognise the potential to use the event as an agent of change, as a platform to advance their interests. This so-called ‘Eurovision effect’ has been exploited in the past.

Each of these issues is of serious concern to the EBU – which oversees the organisation of the event. None however, represents a conflict of interest.  Although the EBU places democracy and media freedom at its heart, the Eurovision Song Contest is a cultural celebration, an international music competition that pits nations against each other in an amicable way. Its power lies in its capacity to bring people and countries together, unlike any other event.

The aim of the Eurovision Song Contest is to unite Europe and of course, to generate a good time. Without doubt, after the most agreeable of battles, a winner will emerge. By facilitating a means for others to press for positive change, the potential exists for everyone to win.

Hosting the contest should not be interpreted as EBU’s endorsement of Azerbaijan’s political approach. The EBU also intends to seize the momentum to strengthen the support it provides to journalists working amid constraint.

The EBU has been active on media freedom in Azerbaijan, as in many other countries, well before it won the Song Contest. In 2010, just before its General Assembly, the EBU organized a major two-day workshop in Baku attended by journalists, bloggers and Azeri officials on the values of the new media age.

The Assembly itself adopted a Declaration on freedom of expression, media independence and democracy which the EBU President and I conveyed to President Ilham Aliyev personally. During this meeting we also raised specific concerns about the lack of media freedom in Azerbaijan.

Our Geneva headquarters will now be the location for a workshop on how together, organizations committed to media freedom can initiate positive change in Azerbaijan.

The workshop, which will take place on May 2nd, on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, will be attended by intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. The goal is to brainstorm concrete activities which can be pursued by participants, where possible together, to improve media independence and freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. Eventually this approach could be extended to other countries as well.

And the EBU will continue to be active on media freedom in Azerbaijan- and in many other countries from which our Membership is drawn – well after- and independently from- the Eurovision Song Contest.

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