Press hails Eurovision

A year in the planning and now it’s all over. The Eurovision Song Contest reached its crescendo on Saturday night – Austria won and Switzerland came 10th.

But the Swiss press has nothing but praise – for the coverage and the tens of thousands of fans who descended on the city of Basel. 

The Blick newspaper says the hosts, Hazel Brugger, Sandra Studer and Michelle Hunziker, were a joy and the crowds in Basel lived the slogan for this year’s show – United by Music. 

In an editorial, it does heap praise on the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. It says it shows its capacity for greatness with the mega-event.

The BaslerZeitung  laments the Swiss entry Zoë Më didn’t do better with the public votes – she scored zero – although it says it was probably the best formed song of the evening. The jury placed her second – the paper concludes her tenth place is honourable. 

But the Tribune de Genève says Zoë’s 10th place is a disappointment. However, it was happy that there were the most French language songs - 5 -  in the competition since 1978, when there were 6. It was hosted in Paris that year.

In the southern part of the country, the Corriere del Ticino, says Switzerland was betrayed by the televoters - and then called the new song by last year’s winner Nemo, a bomb. 

 

 

More from Bitesize News

  • Geneva could foot the G7 bill

    Geneva fears it will be left with the security bill from a G7 summit just across the border in Évian, according to 24 heures.

  • US NGO discovers Swiss child abuse cases

    Switzerland relies too heavily on an American NGO to detect child sexual abuse online, raising questions about the country's ability to protect children on its own.

  • French singer banned by Paleo

    The Paléo Festival in Nyon says it will no longer invite French singer Patrick Bruel, after a former volunteer accused him of inappropriate behaviour.

  • Cars going uninspected

    The cantons are struggling to keep up with mandatory vehicle inspections, leaving more than 550,000 checks overdue nationwide.

  • War may lead to rent rises

    Rents may rise again, says the bank Raiffeisen.

  • Not a heatwave, yet

    Summer has arrived, with temperatures climbing past 30 over the long weekend. Basel reached 31 and Sion hit 32.4, but MeteoSwiss, says this does not yet count as an official heatwave.

Download our app

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play