A number of fans have been discussing the potential results of the United Kingdom’s national final, Eurovision: You Decide, so I thought it would be interesting to try and find out these results.
In an email to the person responsible for the BBC Eurovision Press, I received a reply stating that the BBC would not be revealing the results. So I thought I would go over his head and approach the Freedom of Information department in order to obtain this information.
I today received a reply from the BBC Information Policy and Compliance department today stating that “The information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes of ‘journalism, art or literature.’ The BBC is therefore not obliged to provide this information to you and will not be doing so on this occasion. Part VI of Schedule 1 to FOIA provides that information held by the BBC and the other public service broadcasters is only covered by the Act if it is held for ‘purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature”. The BBC is not required to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities”
So although people of the United Kingdom paid to vote throughout the contest, the BBC does not feel obliged to divulge the information, with a little help from the European Union, who have made this possible.
The BBC being paid for by the British Public through the TV licence, costing £154.50 per year, which allows the broadcaster to broadcast without commercial breaks. It was founded in 1922 and had broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956 and provided the United Kingdom’s entries since 1957.
Why all the secrecy? Surely the people who have paid to vote in the competition deserve to know the results and where the song they voted for ended?!
What do you think? Do you think the BBC are right to withhold the information? or do the people have a right to see the results they voted for?
Joe & Jake will represent the UK in Stockholm with the song “You’re Not Alone”
