A SURVEY by the Press and Information Office (PIO) has concluded that newspapers in Western Europe and the United States paid scant attention to last month’s Miss Universe contest.
The findings concluded that, "dependable newspapers and magazines in the US, Great Britain, France, Germany and other European countries, in their majority, ignored the event".
A summary of the international press attention devoted to the beauty pageant was collated by the PIO and distributed to government departments this week.
The Cyprus Tourist Organisation (CTO) justified the £4.5 million cost of hosting the pageant by citing the massive global publicity given by the show to Cyprus as a tourist destination.
Organisers were particularly keen to target the American market. But the Washington Post was the only high-profile American newspaper to give the beauties space.
Even then, the article focused on the protest mounted by appalled Orthodox Christians on the night of the pageant final for "shooting women down to the bottomless pits of hell".
The BBC World Service and The Guardian also gave attention to the all-night vigil in the Ayios Panteleimonas church and the slashed ticket prices– rumoured to have been a desperate measure to fill vacant seats.
The German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung followed suit, whereas French papers ignored the contest altogether.
An article published in Politis on Tuesday implied that the £4.5 million cost of hosting the pageant had been a waste, and that the expected publicity had not materialised.
But both the PIO and the government yesterday refused to attach much importance of the survey. They emphasised the centrality of the pageant’s televised coverage that reached its full target audience. One billion viewers tuned into the contest live on May 13 and a further 2 billion were expected to watch it recorded in 124 countries worldwide.
"The relevant minister has commented on this matter repeatedly. We’re talking about coverage through television stations. Nothing changes this and it’s premature to say whether this effort will pay off or not," said Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou.
PIO director Androulla Lanitis branded the Politis report an "unbelievable" distortion. "The televised target [of viewers for the Miss Universe pageant] was met by far," she said. She went on to add that extra articles were a bonus.
"We did have some articles in the written press, which we didn’t actually expect and there were some very good articles," she said.
Newspapers in Egypt, India and Mexico did splash out on the pageant in Cyprus, but Politis ridiculed them as insignificant tourist markets.
