Editing Dennis Potter (section)

===The media and Rupert Murdoch===

In 1993, Potter was given a half-hour slot in prime time by [[Channel 4]] in their ''[[Opinions (TV series)|Opinions]]'' strand produced by [[Open Media]]. Potter's chosen topic was what he perceived to be a contamination of news media and its effect on declining standards in British television "particularly journalists who criticised his Channel 4 series ''Lipstick on Your Collar''", [[Kelvin MacKenzie]] "the sharp little oaf who edits the Sun" and [[Garry Bushell]] "that sub-literate [[Homophobia|homophobic]], sniggering rictus of a lout".<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/diary-5444081.html Diary], ''The Independent'', 23 March 1993</ref> His talk was published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' in abbreviated form as ''"Murdoch's Desolate View of Human Life"''<ref>Dennis Potter, "Murdoch's Desolate View of Human Life", ''The Guardian'', 22 March 1993</ref> [[Craig Brown (satirist)|Craig Brown]] described the programme in the ([[Rupert Murdoch]] owned) ''[[The Sunday Times|Sunday Times]]'':

::"Potter announced at the beginning: 'I'm going to get down there in the gutter where so many journalists crawl... what I'm about to do is to make a provenly vindictive and extremely powerful enemy... the enemy in question is that drivel-merchant, global huckster and so-to-speak media psychopath, Rupert Murdoch... Hannibal the Cannibal.'...

::As a performance, it had a lot going for it. I have never seen a talking head on television so immediate or so unabated in its anger. In many ways, it felt like being collared by a madman on the Tube. Filmed disturbingly close to camera, seemingly ad-libbing the entire half-hour, now mumbling, now rasping, Potter somehow managed to cut through the vacuum that on television usually separates viewer from viewee. This made the performance extraordinary."<ref>Craig Brown "Abuse of Privilege", ''The Sunday Times'', 28 March 1993</ref>