Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Big Brother on Probation

(From the TimesOnline.co.uk) The chairman of Channel 4 ordered an inquiry last night into whether underhand tactics had been used by the producers of Celebrity Big Brother to stoke up the race row between Jade Goody and the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

After a two-hour discussion between the network's board members, Luke Johnson said that Big Brother had been put on notice, but also indicated that the conduct of all connected with the show would be thoroughly investigated.

The announcement in effect puts on probation two of television’s most senior executives, with Andy Duncan, Channel 4's chief executive, and Kevin Lygo, its director of television, likely to be blamed should dirty tricks be uncovered.

The pair tried and failed to argue that the programme had begun a legitimate debate about race in Britain, amid accusations that it was encouraging abusive conflict to boost ratings.

There was further controversy for the channel last night after a contestant on its new Shipwrecked series made offensive comments about black people and homosexuals. Ofcom, the media watchdog, said it had had 69 complaints about racism after the comments by Lucy Buchanan, 18, a former public schoolgirl who told contestants that she supported slavery.

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