Paper Monitor
11:22 UK time, Wednesday, 17 January 2007
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
When exactly does unpleasantness spill into racism? The papers big and small are humming with just this question, with not one but three cases in point to go at.
Far and away dominating the papers is the of Bollywood princess Shilpa by her fellow Celebrity Big Brother contestants, among them Jade "nation's sweetheart" Goody and ex-Miss GB Danielle Lloyd. The columnists have had a field day expounding on what it all means.
Germaine Greer (herself a reality TV veteran) piles in with a piece in G2 in which she argues that Shilpa - who is an actress by trade - knows just how to wind the others up to further her own ends.
"Bollywood is no picnic; anyone who makes 51 Bollywood movies in 13 years has to be tough... [Shilpa] is just the girl to raise the pit bull in a dizzy little drip like Danielle and keep her frothing at the mouth long enough for her nascent career as a sweet little Wag to disappear down the drain."
And on the offending word in Jade's boyfriend's tirade, Greer opines that "the word was bleeped out, leading many viewers to speculate that she had been racially abused. That is not surprising. This is a racist country."
The Sun's TV editor says that the coterie are "gobby and stupid" but not racist, and says that the greatest damage has been done not to Shilpa but to Jade's carefully constructed image - "the ignorance we once found so amusing is now seen for what it really is - just ignorance".
For the Times' Carol Midgely, it all comes down to an age-old struggle: "I doubt [Jade] and her gang are particularly racist. I think they are jealous - of Shetty's beauty, poise, talent and yes, her class."
And speaking of class, what of the Daily Telegraph, which typically ignores CBB antics? It merely reports the complaints, directing readers who wish to debate the story further to its website (a medium Telegraphites no doubt feel is better suited to such matters).
And in similar news, Janet Street-Porter has been arrested over claims that she ; and a judge who advised a man accused of a racist slur to call his victim a . But surely that's fat-ist. And insulting to those born outside of wedlock...
The 
