Mediaite Interviews Piers Morgan On Politics, The American Dream, And Why His Show Isn’t The Today Show
The subtly revamped Piers Morgan Tonight of 2012 includes what Morgan describes as a “more segmented, more Americanized” format, with segments titled “Keeping America Great” and “Only In America,” and panels as well as the standard long-form interviews. “Keeping America Great” he describes as a reminder that, even in hard times, “it’s still America—it’s a fantastic country with great people.” As the days and segments accumulate, he hopes viewers get “real continuity and start developing some proper thoughts on what my take on America is.”
Most of his work at the network consists of sit-down interviews,which tend to focus on what the subject thinks, feels, and perceives of the world. On election nights, Morgan gets to speak up a bit on what he thinks, feels, and perceives of the way the 2012 race is going and how the candidates have resonated with people. And he opines on an all star panel of names with decades of history in American politics– David Gergen, Paul Begala, and of course Wolf Blitzer. But of course much of his interview work involves stepping into the home terrain of some of the greatest in their field, and I wonder how taking a stage on election night with someone like Blitzer compares to, say, stepping into a ring with world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao. Turns out the difference is pretty simple: “Wolf Blitzer is not going to kill me!” Not that he didn’t love the experience of sparring with Pacquiao, who he says in the ring “doesn’t smile, he just stares at you with those big eyes. I also accidentally hit his trainer.” But Blitzer, he says, is “an unbelievably generous host. Legend around the world [and] one of the most generous people I know. Will always acquiesce, always give you time. Brilliant, like one of those clocks you wind up and he can go for hours, the face of CNN.”
“I like the fact that on any given moment on Twitter there’s an American calling me a liberal limey or a Republican redneck,” he says, glancing at his desktop. “And I’ve seen both today.”
He has similar praise for all his election night colleagues, but isn’t out to be quite like them. “There’s no point in me trying to pretend to be David Gergen, who knows more about politics than I could read in a million years,” he explains. “There’s no point in trying to out-Wolf Wolf or be like Anderson [Cooper] or know more about American political culture than Gloria Borger. So my job is to bring a fresh pair of eyes, a different perspective, and my sense of being an interviewer. I am curious about the personalities involved… what are their real views, what are their contradictions? Where are the flip-flops? What are they like as human beings? Would I go for a pint with them? And also to be a bit provocative and a bit mischievous. That’s part of what I am, I’m the cheeky Brit.”
And that, he notes, is his greatest strength. “I can look at the American political process in a completely different way to many American journalists. I don’t even have a vote; I can’t be a Republican or a Democrat, even if I wanted to. And I can look at a lot of things about American life and society and politics with a set of very non-American eyes. And that can be very interesting to Americans.” He lauds his competitors– “I’m a big fan of people like Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly and all those guys. They’ve been doing it a lot longer than I have and built brilliant brands for themselves”– but notes that he isn’t going after the demographic that tunes into them, but the 300 million or so not watching cable news. Not that the fact that he doesn’t “have a dog in the race” immunizes him from being lumped into one side or the other, which is a source of amusement. “I like the fact that on any given moment on Twitter there’s an American calling me a liberal limey or a Republican redneck,” he says, glancing at his desktop. “And I’ve seen both today.”
Just because he has no side doesn’t mean, however, that he does not have an opinion. “I’m never going to be a partisan host. I’m going to be an opinionated, attitudinal host—different thing. You can do that without having a horse in the race. And I don’t have one, anyway. I can’t—I can’t vote!”
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
