About us: We are ESCDaily
WHO WE ARE
Team ESCDaily is a group of independent sports journalists & media students with a shared passion for the Eurovision Song Contest. The team is rooted in Australia, and we follow our country from Down Under with special attention and with the critical attitude that is crucial to the value of journalism for society.
ESCDaily was officially launched on the 1st of November 2009 by a couple of Australian music journalists with a passion for Eurovision. Right now, the team is a wonderful mix of nationalities, all dedicated to give you the best possible coverage of the contest. One of the strengths of ESCDaily is that we work with graduated journalists and media experts in our team; professionals who have the core values of journalism as their standard.
The decision by the EBU in 2023 to close rehearsals for journalists has had an impact on our abilities to do independent journalism into the Eurovision Song Contest. As a result, we have decided to dedicate this website mainly to the second week of every Eurovision. We follow that week extensively through the press center, we cover rehearsals and we take special pride in our Jury Final blog, where we come really close to predicting the actual jury results every year.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
The Eurovision Song Contest is “The Olympic Games of Music”.
“Australians love to compete,” said the first Australian Head of Delegation Paul Clarke once to us in an interview. Therefore, ESCDaily approaches the Eurovision Song Contest primarily as a competition, as a sports event.
We believe that the Eurovision trophy is like the “Olympic Gold Medal of Music”, the highest honour a singer can achieve. Therefore, when we cover the contest, we do it from the perspective of a very serious sporting event. We discuss the different strategies, we follow the scores, we analyze the results.
The Eurovision Song Contest contributes significantly to a European public sphere.
The Eurovision Song Contest was founded to help create a European public sphere. Its creation played an important part in the first plans for a European unification process after World War II. In other words: Eurovision directly contributed to peace in Europe. Without overestimating the power of a television show, we do believe that this larger purpose should still be at the basis of every core decision made by the EBU today.
It is also worth noting that Australia, the country that ESCDaily originates from, is part of the European public sphere. Most of Australia’s inhabitants today have European heritage, and the Australian media landscape is much more focused on Europe than it is in, for example, the United States. One of the best examples of that is the fact that SBS started broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest in Australia already 30 years before they were allowed to take part. Therefore, let there be no doubt: we at ESCDaily believe that Australia deserves to be a fully fledged Eurovision participant.
WHAT WE PROMISE YOU
We will uphold the core ethics of professional sports journalism
That means that, following the SPJ Code of Ethics, we take responsibility for the accuracy of our work. All our content has been verified before release. We use original sources and identify our sources clearly to our audience. That is something you can count on. We stay away from vague rumours, and we always choose reliability over speed.
We will provide context for relevant topics
On top of the plain facts, we are always looking to contextualize what is happening in the world of Eurovision. This could be through background information, or through expressing and giving voice to different opinions. However, we always separate facts from opinions. We only interview those artists and delegation members when we have relevant questions to ask.
We are, and always will be independent
Our journalistic independence is what gives meaning and value to our content. As much as we carry out our Australian heritage, as much as we cheer for the participants from Down Under – we are not with SBS. We have no affiliation with the Australian broadcaster and we follow the work they do with a critical attitude. The same goes for EBU or any other national broadcaster.
We welcome people from all around the world
Whether they are readers, viewers, followers or (aspiring) team members – everyone is welcome. We emphasize examples of traditional culture and local customs in our coverage without forgetting that we are all part of the same beautiful continent. Rather than just “send” you content – we facilitate an online meeting place where ethnic discrimination is not tolerated.
