BRITAIN:Channel 4 faced accusations of a cover-up over the Celebrity Big Brother race row yesterday as the regulator for the communications industry, Ofcom, ordered the broadcaster to apologise publicly for mishandling the affair.
Transcripts released for the first time reveal that Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jo O'Meara and Goody's boyfriend, Jack Tweed, made up a racist limerick about Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty which made reference to the word "Paki" - but the scenes were never shown. Tweed and S Club star O'Meara were given formal warnings, but viewers were not told.
In Ofcom's report on the race row, the media watchdog concluded that Channel 4 bosses had been unaware that the footage existed until three days later.
But it said Channel 4 had made "serious editorial misjudgments" elsewhere and found it guilty of breaching the broadcasting code.
Despite the findings, Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan insisted that no heads would roll. "We don't believe this is a resignation issue," he insisted.
He told Channel 4 News: "We would accept that racism took place. We absolutely understand that the key issue was racial offence, and there's no doubt that a lot of what did take place was racially offensive."
The show sparked an international outcry and 44,500 viewers complained that Shetty was the victim of racist bullying.
Ofcom singled out three occasions on which Channel 4 had failed to handle the situation appropriately.
They were: Goody referring to Shetty as "Shilpa Poppadom"; Lloyd saying that Shetty should "f*** off home"; and the argument over Shetty cooking a chicken, which ended with Lloyd and O'Meara making derogatory comments about Indian eating habits.
The watchdog ordered Channel 4 to broadcast three on-air apologies when Big Brother 8 kicks off next week.
The apologies will be shown at the beginning of the launch show on Wednesday, on the review show the following day, and at the start of the first eviction show.
It is unprecedented for Ofcom to impose a statutory sanction like this on a public service broadcaster. But it failed to impose a fine, the most serious sanction available.