Monday, February 24, 2014

Adios, Piers

David Carr writes on CNN's dumping Piers Morgan:

It’s been an unhappy collision between a British television personality who refuses to assimilate — the only football he cares about is round and his lectures on guns were rife with contempt — and a CNN audience that is intrinsically provincial. After all, the people who tune into a cable news network are, by their nature, deeply interested in America.

Crossing an ocean for a replacement for Larry King, who had ratings problems of his own near the end, was probably not a great idea to begin with. For a cable news station like CNN, major stories are like oxygen. When something important or scary happens in America, many of us have an immediate reflex to turn on CNN. When I find Mr. Morgan telling me what it all means, I have a similar reflex to dismiss what he is saying. It is difficult for him to speak credibly on significant American events because, after all, he just got here.

Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it,” he said. “That’s run its course and Jeff and I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me.”

~Excerpts, New York Times

Exactly the problem. Morgan wanted to tell Americans how wrong and stupid they are. What did he think was going to happen? Get higher ratings for insulting an American audience?

Perhaps this is a glimmer of "hope" that Americans are still, even in the CNN audience, anti-socialist.

One can only hope, but the reality is, many of them also likely voted for the socialist Obama.

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