Israel: Legal Bureau Brought In To Check Selection Procedure

The Israeli news website Mako have reported that the selection procedure for Eurovision that IBA used is being checked by the a legal bureau. The Legal Bureau of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority has been brought into to check whether their selection of Mei Feingold for Copenhagen is legal.

The rules that Mako have said that were broken. A quick break down of the 10 rules that they saw were broken:

1. Not specifying the number of people that made up the judging panel, this meant that it was not open and did not meet the rules that the IBA set out for themselves.
2. Some of the members on the judging panel not being of a high standard. For example Udi Bezalel who is a researcher at IBA, who was put in charge of deputy of the judging and entrusted with the broad powers of contacting artists to find their interest in the contest and getting them to the judging panel.
3. Not being clear as to who was involved in the debate and who was voting, and whether the vote was secret or not.
4. The judging panel only being able to vote for 3 acts as they could only score with 8, 10 and 12 points, this meant that out of the 16 acts that were brought in front of the panel, they would not have had a fair chance of being selected.
5. They voted for 3 acts and did not rank all of the 16 acts. There was also talk of certain members saying outright that they would not vote for certain musicians.
6. Criteria as to what they were judging acts on was not set out, for example are they looking for an act who has performed for big crowds or a person that performs in a cafe. Were people allowed to submit themselves to the judging panel, or were IBA contacting artists.
7. Why did IBA not make an open call for artists for Eurovision, why did the decision have to be done behind closed doors.
8. The process not being transparent and open to the public.
9. Not publishing the names of the 16 artists that were brought in front of the committee, why were acts not told that the panel was for Eurovision.
10. Why was the Deputy Head of Delegation allowed to select the videos that were played about the artists in front of the panel.

It is not known when the legal authority will report on the matter.

You can read the full article here.

Source: Mako.il