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Germany: More modest press reaction after "debacle"
BILD, always eager reporting about the Eurovision Song Contest, last year complained about the "East mafia" in the contest, claimed "obvious cheating" and stated that "Germany should withdraw". In 2005, a columnist stated that it was "unfair" that Germany got zero points from so many countries which he because Germany and German people support many countries outside the contest - this article was heavily criticised. This year, they state that the contest was "as embarrassing as never before" and that Germany "pays and the others give each other the points". Again, they claimed that the Eastern countries to give each other and said: "Like every year, Bosnia & Herzegovina got 12 points from Croatia, countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia shuffled points onto each other" simply ignoring the fact that it was only the second time Bosnia & Herzegovina got 12 points from Croatia and that Azerbaijan and Armenia gave each other no points at all. Still, the overall reporting is more modest in 2008.
Michael Steppner of focus.de was also not happy with the results but sees it from a different point of view: "Deservedly lost" is the title of his column. He says that the contest in general is already "bad enough" and complained that some clips of earlier Eurovision Song Contest entries were shown during the pre-show of the contest. Furthermore, he claims that Carolin Fortenbacher, who finished second in the national final would have been better for the contest. His general meaning is that the No Angels deserved their last (or third last) place and that the Eurovision Song Contest is a waste of television dues.
In general, the annual complaints Eastern Europe are the main topic in the media. However, the German result seems to have been more expected this year than Texas Lightning's 14th place in Athens and Roger Cicero's 19th place in Helsinki and the press reaction is more modest.
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I like the line where bild says Armenia and Azerbaijan voted for each other.... who's the author of the article? He/she should be fired for such an enormous "error". Armenia and Azerbaijan won't exchange vote for at least another decade.
If only that was true! 
though I am german, I was foreseeing that No Angels would end up as the last ones, and I would have bet 100€.
The performance was bad. I suppose, they were using the competition to promote their song, and they didn't take the competition really seriously. They were performing much better in the german TV Show. End of story.
But I am really angry to read these awful "BILD" headlines every year. Everyone in hole Europe knows the shit they are writing, and it makes the impression that they reflect the german point of view. Its a shame. There are far more of this phamplets sold (some call it newspaper) than there are people who watched the esc. and I suppose, that a few people reading the Bild have been watching the competition.
So how will Bild- readers know, that Ukraine really had a strong performance (and this can't be lied away, allthough the votings are questionable)- That Laka became 5 Points from Germany, not only from Serbia or so ( I liked the performance very much) ?
has any Bild reader been voting?
It is some kind of "Bild" sickness to foment hatred about things people have no idea about.
By the way, "Bild-reader" is a german synonyme for a stupid person.
@Muki, why on earth shouldn't Russia put money into their entry?! It shows they take ESC seriously, nlike the UK and IRL. I don't particularly like the song but good on them..
i think sweden faces same destiny as UK and should withdraw before its too late.....something must be wrong when same countries ends always in the bottom while others are always in top....my opinion is that Dima Bilan shouldnt even been in top 10 the songs is really bad....countries like germany and uk throws money for the competition.....while countries like russia put all their money on the entry....i didint think that u can buy yourself a victory in ESC but it seems like it possible...for russia at least...
@ Melanie Stahlkopf,
While on the night No Angels performance was bad. Their video was very slick and professional. I think that it was the only song in the contest that had commercial value and could see it doing well in charts all over europe. It was the only song that stuck in my head. I know how you feel. Last year my coutry (Ireland) had a good video and a song that many people liked but on the night of the final the made a complete mess. The lead singer was a disaster so they deservesd to do bad. I really liked Roger Cicero from 2007 and Texas Lightning from 2006, I have them both on my MP3.
They only got 12 from Bulgaria because one of them is Bulgarian. Totally ridiculous.
Of course the press reaction was more modest when Roger Cicero was very good, while this... well, not very good!
Germany should be awarded 0 points!!!!The girls were outta tune and the song was just..crap!!!!
Sorry but German did not even deserve the 14 points they got...those 12 from Bulgaria were rediculous.... because that red haired woman is Bulgarian.... what a joke....
@ david.5555@windowslive.com ....
Lucy has with the No Angels many successful songs in Germany.
You can watch videos of the most successful songs on this site. Under videos you can find those songs:
http://www.viva.tv/S(...)t/interid/177/part/7
You can find here what chart position they got in Germany with their songs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Angels
The bigger the better! We want as many countries as possible in the competition. The competition is a celebration and should inlcude all. It's a sing of its success that every one wants to be part of it. As for Kosovo no worries. It's not a country so one less for you worried bunnies.
@zenta
yes, that's right... you only can vote for the countries from the same semi and for the big four + host country...
this would be against the diaspora... (a little bit)
okay, jury system is not 100% against the diaspora but it could helps 50%!
for an example:
-after all given points from the participating countries the juries could give their votes.
-only one jury from each country can give just once the highest "12" points for a country that came in top 10!
-the jury have to search only one country from top 10 and these country gets from the jury the 12 points!
this could be the new rule of the voting part from the jury!
HI
I am from Germany and I have to apologize for the silly headline in BILD!!!
Most of the people in Germany think that No Angels deserved the bad result because the song was boring, performance not professional and they sang in a bad tune!!!!
BILD just needed a headline and that´s bullshit!
So CONGRATULATIONS RUSSIA!! Dima Bilan deserves the victory and even in this point of view most of the people agree.
So sorry for the silly headlines
Lucy is very popular just in Bulgaria or in Germany, didnt know it!? Tell me some of her famous songs, maybe i know for her
Well, BILD is a tabloid - it needs such headlines to sell stuff. The more serious parts of the media did not complain that much cause they know that the last place ( or one of the last places ) was simply deserved. No catchy song, medicore performance compared to other and most of all horribly sung. So who should have voted this ? Plus it would be more than ridiculous to complain about " neighbour voting " as Germany would have scored ZERO without these neighbourbotes ( 2 pts from Switzerland while Bulgaria has to be counted as " Neighbour " this year too because of popular bulgarian singer Lucy as part of the No Angels ).
Fortenbacher would have been a better choice indeed, even if she was no winner either but I would have expected a similar result than 2006.
The German song was not good, and the eprformance... better forget it.
Thanks for the article but don't pay much attention to Bild, it is not exactly a serious newspaper!...
This isn't Eurovision, this is Eastvision.
50% televoting and 50% jury (I hope in Moscow 2009 or will always win eastern country)
@cia Sinan
Häh??? Your idea would mean, that I can´t vote for my favourite song, when it´s in the other semi??? Honestly... what a stupid idea! Sorry, if this was rude
By the way, a comeback of jury voting would maybe stop the diaspora-voting, but not the so called bloc-voting. I mean, do you honestly believe that e.g. an ukrainian jury member would not give russia 12 points?? Oh, and I remember, that in old jury-times (back in the 80´s) everyone moaned about the Scandinavian bloc!
German song was good, but German girls didn't pull it off. They were totally out of tune. Thats why people didn't buy it. Pity.
I loved the song and it so deserved to be much higher.
Germany group singing was one of the worst in final I think they should be last. No song, no show, what place should you want?
@ciao sinan
I agree, good idea.
Somehow we Germans got used to the bad results in the Song Contest during the last years . So why complain another time . ;-)
It´s just tabloid paper Bild making a fuss out of it.You will find in other media comments which deal more appropiate with the subject.
I think they should not criticize other people´s taste of voting but make proposals to German TV to improve the way of selecting the right song.
I think the performance of the No Angles was annoying and they should not be astonished about the poor outcome.
I think the critics towards No Angels were too rude. Their performance wasn't so bad really. I voted for the girls and I know many other Bulgarians who did. It is true that Lucy is a well-known performer here (and the band is well-known too).
But in my oppinion Germany got 12 points from Bulgaria not only because of Lucy. It is also important that No Angels came personally to Bulgaria, they made a big promotion here and met with their fans. Such things always get attention and pay back. Most of the other acts who came to Bulgaria recently got points from us too
The song is good, the singers aren't! Who has chosen these girls to perform? None of them can sing!
the Eurovision Song Contest needs new rules!!!
it's too big to see many countries will participating!
43 countries!!! next year it will be 45? - kosovo will maybe enter and maybe uzbekistan or turkmenistan???
is this the Eurovision Song Contest???
NO, NO - STOP!!!
one evening, one Eurovision Song Contest! not more!
it was okay to saw just one semi final to choice the top 10 in the final. but the system with 2 semi finals didn't work...
it's too much!!!
and what should brings europe when in the final can vote all 43 countries???? NOTHING!
we have seen it!
at first:
I would like to see the full program with the points from 1-12 by the spokersperson!
the voting part is the most greatest highlight in the show!
please bring it back!!!
please let just the participating countries in the final to vote!
please bring juries to the event...
50% juries / 50% televoting - this could help against the diaspora!
if we will see next year 2 semi finals again...
the voting should be change!
-the countries from the semi 1 should vote in the final only for these countries from semi 1 + big four and host country AND not more!!!
-the countries from the semi 2 should vote in the final only for these countries from semi 2 + big four and host country AND not more!!!
-the big four should be divide in two... two of them to vote for the participating countrys from one semi final which has passed in the final!
-only the host country should vote for all participating countries in the final.
-countries that has not passed in the final should not have to vote!
I think we will never see an Eurovision Song Contest with only 24 or 26 participating countries!
the idea with the voting like this idea would be perfect!
and when juries come back and we would see 50% juries voting and 50% televoting we would have a real winner without diaspora!
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