Since 2000, British newspapers, despite their protestations have found Big Brother to be a veritable saviour of the silly season, rescuing the struggling pages of their summer editions. Many of them may love to hate it, but it still fills pages, and can be frequently relied upon to raise debate and sell papers - which lets face it, is the most important thing.
Equally the ‘celebrity’ (we’re not going to spend this whole article putting celebrity in quotes but you know what’s inferred) version of the show has proved to be a bankable kick-start to the year, better than a newly released fitness video for getting the tabloid hearts racing.
In a week when the 21st July terror trial began, Richard Hammond’s crash photos became public, firemen were told step-ladders were too dangerous for them, prisons overflowed, the Home Office went from bad to worse, freak storms battered the country, David Beckham signed to LA Galaxy, a schoolboy was put in detention for eating an apple, and more troops were sent out to Iraq and Afganistan with daily death-tolls still increasing… it was Jade Goody that grabbed the front pages and got politicians and the nation talking. You didn’t even need to have seen the programme to have an opinion, and this perhaps explains how it all became so… inflamed.

News Juice sifted through the UK media during the notorious...
‘Big Brother Race Row!’

The Accused

David Seymour in the Daily Mail told us “they are obsessed with bodily functions. They cackle obsessively”.
Shyama Perera offers a few words, some generous, some blunt in The Telegraph - Jade is “goodhearted and streetwise” but “rudderless and ignorant”.
Ros Wynne-Jones of The Mirror suggested that perhaps someone with Jade Goody’s track record in ignorance and malapropisms may not naturally be “a paragon of political correctness”. Fearing the perfume purveyor may have become an “escape goat” [sic]. She pointed out that: “The trouble with a lot of Jade-bashing is that there’s also overtones of anti-working class sentiment. The middle classes love to hate Jade the way they love to hate people who wear Burberry and shellsuits - they prefer her as a laughable Vicky Pollard rather than the success story she is.”
The Guardian’s Media Monkey dug up Danielle Lloyds blog - written before entering the house - “I wonder if there’ll be all sorts written about me in the papers when I’m in the house - only believe the best bits - the rest’ll be made up!!”
Neil Midgeley of The Telegraph described the assailants as a “has-been pop star”, a “wannabe model” and a “has-been wannabe”.

Open Minded

The Telegraph set its stall out straight away labelling CBB as a “downmarket reality television show”. Neil Midgeley then picked up the baton for the same paper with the kind words that “Big Brother is crass, manipulative, common, lairy, gladiatorial and, for many people, repellent. But one thing it has never managed to be is significant - until yesterday”.
The Times said Channel 4 “has either been complicit in promoting the racial bullying to boost ratings or, worse, cynically contrived a cast list to elicit a row”.
“Three days ago it was merely the below par fifth season of a faltering reality TV franchise,” The Guardian began nicely.
The Independent called for changes in attitudes to reality TV stating “that means not just Jade Goody and her unattractive companions but the television channel which profits from broadcasting her excesses,” it said.
The Daily Express added: “Big Brother and, in particular, the celebrity version, has always thrived on a triumvirate of bad behaviour, bickering and breakdowns between characters chosen on the basis that they will undoubtedly fail to get on with one another.”
Germaine Greer in The Guardian had through prior experience, already made her mind up - “There are no good reasons for watching Celebrity Big Brother and very good reasons for not. Not watching will spare you the nerve-fraying annoyingness that is Shilpa Shetty.”

Celebrity Big Brother Racism Row [ITN News 17.01.07]

Effigy Confusion

The majority of reports stated that during a street protest in Patna, India, effigies of the makers of Big Brother were burnt. Certainly one was photographed and widely seen across television, newspapers and the net… But… Ros Wynne-Jones of The Mirror seemed to believe the effigy seen burning in India was of Ms Goody [the baddy] herself and Eastern Eye taking another angle, explained that the protesters were “burning straw effigies of her housemates.”

Must we stoop so low?

By Bill Blanko’s calculation in The Guardian “at least five political editors - Nick Robinson of the BBC, George Pascoe-Watson of the Sun, Oonagh Blackman of the Daily Mirror, Ben Brogan of the Daily Mail and James Blitz of the FT - were among the 15 or so lobby hacks banged up in Bangalore” as Brown’s trip to India became bothered by Big Brother.
Pleasingly, we’re told that the accommodation in Bangalore was very limited causing the travelling journalists to sleep several to a room - not unlike the communal nocturnal circumstances of that house in Elstree.
Reporting of the behind the scenes action amongst political hacks during this time of international friction Blanko told of one Financial Times reporter’s protest: “‘We don’t write about Big Brother on the FT,’ a colleague had told me snootily earlier in the day.”
Benedict Brogan, Political Editor of the Daily Mail almost managed to hold back his scorn when pointing out “the spectacle of a tawdry, failing reality programme featuring z-list celebrities being propelled to the forefront of the political agenda left many observers baffled and dismayed”.

999

London’s Evening Standard by their first edition on the Friday were reporting that “Hertfordshire Police may enter the Big Brother house before tonight’s eviction,” also explaining that too many complainants were inappropriately considering the events within the house worthy of emergency police attention.
Digital Spy reported a police statement regarding 999 calls reporting Jade Goody’s behaviour: “The constabulary has been inundated with calls regarding alleged racism in the Big Brother house and have requested that viewers email them instead of calling 999 regarding the matter.”
There are of course more pressing criminal deeds that the police should concern themselves with as Alexander Chancellor pointed out in The Guardian. “It’s not the sort of thing that the police should be asked to fret about when they could be trying to find the thieves who took my car radio, which was stolen this week for the fourth time.”

Four letter words

The Telegraph ensured everything remained clear when pointing out earlier suggestions in the press that a “bleeped-out outburst” by Jack had involved the word ‘Paki’ were untrue. Their efforts to clear up any confusion slightly marred by their coyness when they informed readers that “he had actually called her a ‘****’”.
Less shy reporters at The Guardian thank goodness, it all became clear in their report - “The complaints were further fuelled when Tweed was reported as calling Shetty a “Paki”. Channel 4 insists that in fact the word he used, which was bleeped out, was “c**t”.”
Five and six letter words too were discussed in Eastern Eye, British Asian’s “number 1 voice” explained “Ofcom will investigate claims that housemate Jack Tweedy called Shilpa a ‘bloody Paki bitch’ in conversation with girlfriend Jade Goody. Channel 4 has denied that the bleeped out word was ‘Paki’”.

Juicy Bits

“The nation is a laughing stock!” Screamed the Daily Express. “National Disg-Race” moaned The Sun. “It’s as if the Indians had insulted our Zeta-Jones” said a slightly distracted Paul Revoir in the Daily Mail while someone at the Daily Express was discussing how Shilpa had been observed to display a little ‘haughtiness’ from time to time. Eastern Eye said it was a “raging row”, a row which The Guardian said had “reached a pitch without parallel”. Daily Express journalists, like Jermaine Jackson put it down to “Class V Trash”, whilst The Independent said that the whole sorry business had held “an unflattering mirror to our society”. The Daily Express displayed concern for the future - “The global fallout from the bullying of Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother is quite staggering,” and ‘PR Guru’ Max Clifford told the Daily Mirror - “In future, when people think of PR blunders they will think of two people - Gerald Ratner and Jade Goody”. And they were stunned: “Incredibly, C4 bosses claimed the outrageous comments were NOT rascist and dismissed the bullying as merely a 'culture clash'”
But Perhaps David Seymour put it best when he recalled: “I remember being shocked when years ago I read Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the book which exposed the cruelty at Rugby School in the mid-19th century.”

Tough at the top

Within the house, Jermaine Jackson gave the advice that people should listen to his brother’s lyrics and start by looking at the man in the mirror… but meanwhile the men from The Mirror were chasing down Endemol and Channel 4 executives for a bit of old fashioned door-step bothering. Channel 4 Chief Executive Andy Duncan greeted the paper with a “one-finger salute”, which pleased them. Endemol boss Peter Bazalgette “slammed the door of his £10 million town house” suggesting that the reporter revert to the more traditional procedure and phone his office instead.
Peter Bazalgette did talk to the Media Guardian supporting the editorial stance and assuring readers that comments and behaviours within the house could not be determined as clearly racist. “This has been a fairly typical series of Big Brother, which has uncovered surprising and controversial aspects of our life. It goes to the root of who we are, questions about our identity. That’s what happens when you put 12 people together. We have obeyed the rules of broadcasting, it’s not a mistake, it has been successful.”
Perhaps gathering that many complainants had not actually seen the show “he said it was important for people to watch the programme before deciding their opinion.”

The Victim

Shyama Perera waxed lyrical over the ‘furore’ in The Telegraph - Despite Shetty being seen on the programme bleaching her facial hair she is considered by Perera as “beautiful without augmentation”, with “effortless good looks” and curiously also possessing a “pneumatic figure”.
Germaine Greer gave comment on Shilpa Shetty in The Guardian: “Everything about her is infuriating: her haughty way of stalking about, her indomitable self-confidence, her chandelier earrings, her leaping eyebrows, her mirthless smile, her putty nose and her eternal bray, ‘Why does everyone hate me?’ Not to mention the crying jags.”
The Telegraph had the facts though and gave readers a full lowdown on the victim: “Despite appearing alongside some of the Indian film industry’s biggest stars, Shilpa Shetty remains firmly among the middle rank of Bollywood actors, better known for her stunning looks than her on-screen abilities”.
In contrast the Daily Mail believed they knew exactly how much Shetty is really revered in India insisting “she is more like royalty”.

Shame

Polly Dunbar was absolutely terrified in the Daily Express consumed by “the fear” that “the incident will confirm the erroneous suspicions different nationalities have of British people as ill-educated and boorish, unable to appreciate the differences in others.”
The Independent mused boldy on the subject of the behaviour witnessed in the house - “It is to this pitbull tendency that unscrupulous politicians and populist newspapers play when they obsess about the alleged horrors of immigration - playing to the fear that foreign migrants are here to steal our jobs, homes and women. And yet this barely submerged xenophobia in Britain is a significant phenomenon in our society still.”
Channel 4 Chief Executive, Andy Duncan, was accused in The Mirror of “cowardly yobbishness” which “personifies a TV channel that has deserted its roots and sold its soul to the lowest common denominator”.
The Daily Express, putting Diana conspiracies aside for a day, were left in a shocked state of disbelief because “Britain is a land of fair play.” Equally shocked, Jon Snow, was left wanting on Channel 4 News, telling us that “we asked someone from Channel 4 to come on but they declined”.

Hyperbole

Daily Express hacks were sure that we’d seen “playground bullying at its nastiest”, but The Juicer remembers that it can get a lot nastier than what we witnessed.
The Telegraph told of how the “diplomatic storm” had “engulfed prime ministers from both countries” they also explained how “thousands of Indians took to the streets in protest, burning effigies and demanding retribution”. Continuing their gentle stance and avoiding any scope for exaggeration or confusion - The Telegraph explained how the British girls had been ridiculing Shilpa about her food, accent and “exotic behaviour” - Shilpa’s exotic behaviour is something The Juicer was very sad to have missed!
“Shilpa was reduced to tears by her tormentors” bemoaned the Daily Express, failing to recognise that Shilpa had been reduced to tears by practically everything that occurred in the house.
Proving that tabloids aren’t the only ones to further escalate the controversy by reporting the facts out of context and creating a spiralling Chinese-whisper of news - The Telegraph told of the various slurs against the Bollywood actress - failing to point out that they all occurred at different times and under differing circumstances - “She was called a ‘dog’ and then asked ‘do you get stubble’”. Similarly MSN reported that “Shetty, an A-list star, has been called a ‘dog’. Housemates refuse to learn her name, have referred to her as ‘the Indian’ and ‘Miss Poppadom’, and model Danielle Lloyd said: ‘She should f*** off home. She can’t even speak English.’”
Jackiey Budden, according to The Telegraph and Daily Express “refused to pronounce [Shilpa’s] name properly” when failed to pronounce was certainly more accurate. The Daily Mail, slightly beyond the point, asked the question on everybody’s lips: “Why has Big Brother turned into the human equivalent of bear baiting?”

‘Wading In’

Tony Blair who was sure to make it clear he hadn’t watched the programme told the commons “we should oppose racism in all it’s forms” and wasn’t the only one who ‘waded’ into the racism row, Gordon Brown who’s visit to India was troubled by the controversy, seemed happy to add his own little comment stating: “I prefer X Factor.”
Leading Indian film-maker Mahesh Bhatt responded to the mixed news - “What is happening in Big Brother is just holding the mirror to the western society. This is the real, discriminating face of the west.”
As the number of complaints logged at Ofcom continued to rise, David Cameron suggested that people take advantage of another “great regulator called the off button”, adding that people had to “take responsibility”. Ken Livingstone, suggested the show should be taken off the air.
Questions were raised in the commons, firstly by Keith Vaz, or ‘Vazeline’ as the ‘slippery’ Leicester MP is referred to by Westminster hack Bill Blanco in The Guardian.
Shadowing major licence fee news and talk of digital switchovers in the commons - the Big Brother debate flowed through further political passions with Dennis Skinner who The Guardian calls a “Labour firebrand” exclaiming: “Tell the BBC, if they’re going to help Channel 4 with switchover costs they’d better drop crap like Big Brother”.
Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, told the BBC “What we are seeing is a noxious brew of old-fashioned class conflict, straightforward bullying, ignorance and quite vicious racial bigotry. It is outrageous, and it is unpleasant.” He added the show had “laid bare the dark heart of private prejudice”.
According to the Daily Mail, Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain “toured the broadcasting studios denouncing ‘grubby racist behaviour’”.
In comments broadcast on Sky News, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell stressing that it was merely her own opinion and not that of any body she represents said it was “racism being presented as entertainment” and that she was “disgusted”.
“I would never have let her go on that show... Her whole multi-million pound career is in jeopardy” said Max Clifford.

Racism/Censorship

Mark Lawson in The Guardian was unsure about terminology: “slurs over appearance, accent and sanitation are standbys in the Ku Klux Klan handbook” he remembered, offering one option to avoid the dreaded ‘R’ word - could it perhaps be “malignant xenophobia”?!
Less doubt elsewhere in The Guardian though: “Racism has clearly been on show - in the mocking of Ms Shetty’s accent, for example, and in the questioning of her hygiene. It is untenable to suggest otherwise.”
The Times of India said the actress had become a symbol of “Britains very public, sometimes two-faced fights against racism”.
Meanwhile former housemate and professional fame-seeker Narinder Kaur told Eastern Eye, “It is hard enough being in the house, and if you are Asian, you have got no chance. Being an ethnic minority in the house, you are always 10 steps behind, with no chance to win.”
The Telegraph’s Amit Roy reminded the reader that things were just as normal - “Indian viewers in Britain are upset at the treatment she has received but they realise that in contemporary British society, words such as ‘f***’, ‘Paki’, and ‘w****r’ are about as common as ‘good morning’”.
Hertfordshire police - who have had to deal with the Elstree house previously were confirmed by MediaGuardian.co.uk during the Thursday as having filed the recorded abuse as a “racial incident”. “The definition of a racist incident is drawn deliberately wide and the abuse can be classed as a hate crime even if a third party reports it.”
Mark Lawson concluded in The Guardian - “The argument is not over whether the Big Brother comments were racist - but whether TV has a responsibility to reflect reality or an ideal.” Adding that regulating broadcasts is all well and good but “editing television is useless unless our culture can somehow sincerely make the same cuts.”
Opinion outlet, Big Brother’s Big Mouth, offered us the wise words of Russell Brand who said - “racism is such a wank thing.”

Other racism that week…

Janet Street Porter was arrested on allegations of a racial slur, Louis Theroux had a highlights show featuring racists, Nazis and a member of the Klu Klux Klan and the opening episode of Shipwrecked featured a contestant making clear racist statements which garnered only a fraction of the complaints BB received but did manage to get its repeat cancelled.

by The Juicer - January 2007

Picked between 17th-19th Jan 2007