CNN axes Piers Morgan Live due to falling
ratings Piers Morgan, whose career also spanned
his editorship of The Mirror newspaper in
Britain, will soon be no longer the nighttime face
at CNN Piers Morgan, whose career also spanned his
editorship of The Mirror newspaper in Britain,
will soon be no longer the nighttime face at CNN By DAVID USBORNE Monday 24 February 2014 From the very start it seemed a brave if not
entirely rash move by CNN when three years ago
it hired a British news man known only to
Americans for a tabloid talent show to take the
primetime spot on its network that for more than
a generation had been occupied by the iconic but retiring Larry King. Now it is admitting it was an
error. Piers Morgan, whose career also spanned his
editorship of The Mirror newspaper in Britain,
will soon be no longer the nighttime face at CNN,
or least not in the chair vacated by Mr King.  He
and the network confirmed to the New York
Times what many in the industry thought had been a long time coming - he will be leaving the
show soon, perhaps as soon as next month. And truth is all too evident that the dwindling
crew of Americans who were still watching the
programme will not much mourn his departure.
Or not many among them. He will be remembered
by his critics notably for his repeated excoriations
of American’s gun-owning culture that possibly played well with the liberal audiences of the east
and west coasts but infuriated the belly of what
should have been his audience in Middle America. That he stumbled is not something he himself
apparently feels the need to disguise. “It’s been a
painful period and lately we have taken a bath in
the ratings,” he told David Carr, the media
columnist for the Times. He portrayed the
decision by him and his bosses at CNN to terminate his 9pm gig has having been calm and
mutual. He is also suggesting that he may retained at CNN
and given new roles.  His existing contract for the
programme he is relinquishing does not run out
until September.  In his eye that might mean more
occasional appearances either when important
world news is breaking or interviewing celebrities whose views matter or garner real interest. Exactly how CNN president Jeffrey Zucker plans
to rest the table is not clear.  If the 9pm hour is to
remain interview-based, there is no word if they
have someone in the wings to replace Morgan.  Of
one thing you can almost be certain, however –
that it will not be anyone from the British Isles however compelling they might be. Mr Morgan is aware of how his anti-gun lectures –
from a foreigner, no less - rubbed many up the
wrong way and won’t be easily forgotten. “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.” Mr Morgan, 48, had privately telling friends for
some time that while he had periods when he had
been energised doing the show, called Piers
Morgan Live, but usually only during times of
gripping and breaking news that his interviews
were tapping into.  During long periods when not much was happening on the American news
waterfront, he felt he was often treading water
with sub-par guests who bored him and
presumably the viewers also. The travails of Mr Morgan had become more than
just a problem for him, however.  It was also a
rotten fruit at the centre of CNN’s evening spread
of primetime programming.  His ratings had for
many months been an embarrassment to himself
and executives and a lead weight on the network as a whole.   They regularly trailed far behind the
Fox News Channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch,
and the other main rival MSNBC. It’s proving a tricky winter for Mr Morgan.  Earlier
this month he admitted that in December he had
willingly submitted to questioning by police in
London in relation to the ongoing phone hacking
investigation connected to his time at the Mirror,
where he was editor-in-chief from 1995 to 2004.