By Víctor López Sánchez.
Getafe, Madrid.
Does a fan have all the required skills to keep it up with a news outlet? Is it possible to develop a journalistic personality from this kind of experiences? For taking an insight into this I've had the great pleasure to interview Mr. Anthony Granger, founder and head of news content at Eurovoix, one of the most important magazine outlets in the world when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest.
Q1 - Your website is almost 11 years old, and it has been growing in terms of audience and staff through the years. What do you think are the keys for success in digital media?
The key is to understand the audience that you are creating content for. I’ve have focused on making sure that people view us as a trustworthy and reliable source for their news. As a site I know that I want Eurovoix to be focused on reporting the news around the contest and the stories that others may overlook. We don’t try to imitate other Eurovision sites by doing reaction videos etc. because that is not what the audience associates with us.
If you know what your audience is interested in and can ensure that there is regular content going out on topics they are interested in, you can build a regular audience which boosts your prominence and from there the growth comes from.
Q2 - Do you feel there's been an evolution of how you see Eurovision, now that you are one of the main outlets in charge of updating the fans?
Definitely it is so much more than one night in May it is a year-round event. At the core I am still a fan of the contest and everything that made me interested in it growing up. Now I’m interested in the stories that start during the selection season and build into the contest for example is there an artist with a compelling story that could connect with an audience. It is also now interesting to watch how a country choses to select its act, what changes they make before the contest and how that then turns out on the night.
Q3 - Last year, one of the participating broadcasters, Belarus, submitted a propagandistic song to the competition, and therefore was forced to withdraw. Later, the Eurovoix team released an statement, in which you agreed in this decision. Even if the website belongs to fan-based media category, how important do you think it was to take a certain position?
It was important to take a position on Belarus. Fundamentally you could see that the act and song that had been selected was just a propaganda tool of a regime which had been suppressing its people for the previous year. You could not look at the Belarusian act and treat it the same as all of the other entries.
By putting a statement out refusing to cover the Belarusian act we took a public stand and made it clear to the European Broadcasting Union that we felt that the Belarusian act did not meet the rules of the competition. This saw other websites also state that they would not cover the Belarusian representative.
“Just because you are fan-media does not mean that you don’t have a platform or opportunity to use your voice and reach for a cause.”
A similar discussion was had regarding whether a potential Russian representative should be covered if Russia had competed this year. With the audience that the site now has I do believe that we have an opportunity to make a statement when situations like these occur.
Q4 - There's a big controversy this year concerning the press accreditations for the contest. Lots of media outlets that have applied for covering the contest have been rejected. The EBU has stated that they are interested in "social media influencers". What do you think news outlets could contribute with, that these influencers could not?
News outlets provide the bedrock of the content that larger media outlets and national broadcasters will cover during the competition in May. With a clear focus on the Eurovision Song Contest we are the outlets that give platforms to stories that have potential to make it into commentary notes, newspaper home pages and wider discussion.
Over the years Eurovoix has published several stories that have gone on to be picked up by established media across Europe including:
• Belarusian jurors revealing how they had voted in the Semi-Finals (This led to the disqualification of the Belarusian jury)
• EBU banning Salvador Sobral from wearing a “S.O.S Refugees” jumper in 2017
• San Marino formally complaining about their jury performance
News outlets can go into greater detail and explain issues or events in a way that a social media influencer isn’t able to. It may be a very different type of content to what a social media influencer can provide, but in my view it is more beneficial to the wider understanding of events around the contest than a YouTuber reacting to performances is able to do.
Q5 - Do you think that the Eurovoix project has taught you any specific lessons that have made you evolve in the way you work with the content (as journalists do) in a daily basis?
It has made me much more aware of the various sources of information and trying to wade through what is worth publishing vs. what is unlikely to be of interest to a reader. I’m very aware of the types of articles that get large readership and the topics that readers are engaging with. For example:
• Details of staging prior to the contest e.g. choreographer, Creative Director, outfits etc.
• Competing artists sharing their favourites in the contest
• Results of preview shows that are ranking the songs
These are all articles that in April are our most read as the audience is wanting snippets of what they can expect on stage in May. They are wanting any feel for who could win the competition, who may be a dark horse etc.
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