Jan. 24, 2013

Source: Network looking to install new political show in evening slot

CNN talk show host Piers Morgan has been making headlines lately, throwing, as one commentary described, a “hissy fit” in front of one guest, berating others and even calling Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America “an unbelievably stupid man.”

But the network’s ratings still are in the basement, and now there are reports of a coming shakeup that might move Morgan to a late-evening slot, away from prime time.

The New York Post reported “the slumping cable news network is considering moving his hour-long interview show from the prized 9 p.m. slot back to 10 p.m. – or even later.”

A startling graphic posted by the Drudge Report, which quoted Morgan as saying that one day he would beat Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, showed Morgan’s viewership was 592,000 to O’Reilly’s 3,356,000.

In the same time slot as Morgan, Fox’s Sean Hannity drew 2,276,000 and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow drew 1,096,000.

Independent WND sources today confirm CNN is “discreetly” looking for producers for a new political show for an “evening time slot.”

The New York Post said the shakeup coincides with the arrival of incoming CNN chief Jeff Zucker, who want higher ratings from star performers from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

A Post source reported Morgan will remain, as CNN officials “are not interested in doing a total cleaning of house.”

Also in the mix would be Anderson Cooper’s show, which airs at 8 p.m. and is repeated at 10 p.m. because of the failure of Eliot Spitzer’s show.

Morgan, who just marked two years on his show, succeeded Larry King.

The Post reported its source said Cooper no longer would be in two slots, and Morgan “would be moved out of 9 p.m.”

The issue of gun control, which Morgan advocates, has been the subject of many of his recent shows.

On one show, he ranted against conservatives Dana Loesch and Scottie Hughes, crumpling his notes and saying their statements made him “sick.”

Kelsey Osterman on the Red Alert Politics blog wrote: “Apparently the facts don’t matter at all to Morgan and his personal vendetta. But when his logic is so convoluted, all he can do is crumple his notes and throw them in a hissy fit.”

Morgan also berated Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro on the topic of guns, and when Pratt appeared, Morgan “went off on Mr. Pratt in a way that rarely occurs outside some of the more rugged reality shows on television,” said a New York Times blo

Craig Medred at the Alaska Dispatch called Morgan “delusional.”

“There is no other way to describe a transplanted Brit who thinks gun control in America will somehow make the good, old U.S. of A. into some sort of clone of Merry Old England.”

Medred said the “homicide rate in Alaska, where guns are everywhere, is 4 per 100,000; in New York City, where the mayor is trying to get rid of guns, the rate is 6.4 per 100,000 – more than 50 percent higher. Gun control doesn’t necessarily work at all.”

He noted that the homicide rate for Detroit is 48.2 per 100,000.

Morgan even turned an interview with author Larry Elder, who recently released “Dear Father, Dear Son,” into a discussion about guns.

Elder explained the significance of having fathers in homes, noting the high crime rate in Chicago, where 75 percent of black children are born into homes without a father.

“This book that I’ve written, ‘Dear Father, Dear Son,’ is by far the most important book I’ve ever written because it’s about the centrality of fathers,” Elder said.

“The face of gun violence in this country, as horrific as Sandy Hook was, is not Newtown. It is Chicago, where 500 people last year were shot,” he said.

“Chicago is a city with about a third black, a third white and a third Hispanic. However, 75 percent of murders in Chicago were committed by blacks, usually against other blacks, most of them gang-related.

“The question is why do these boys join these gangs, and the answer is they have no fathers in the house.”

Morgan contended that the guns themselves are the problem.

Elder responded that studies have documented the influence of fathers, and even left-leaning leaders such as Kwasi Mfume and Jesse Jackson have confirmed the absence of fathers is a problem in black households.

In a recent WND column, Elder wrote that the “face of gun violence is not Sandy Hook. It is Chicago.”

“In 2012, President Barack Obama’s adopted hometown had 506 murders, including more than 60 children. Philadelphia, a city that local television newscasters frequently call ‘Killadelphia,’ saw 331 killed last year. In Detroit, 386 people were murdered,” Elder wrote.

“Since 1966, there have been 90 school shootings in the U.S., with 231 fatalities. Yes, Sandy Hook shocked us. But the odds of a child being killed at a school shooting are longer than the odds of being struck by lightning,” he said.

“Of the 11,000 to 12,000 gun murders each year, more than half involve both black killers and black victims, mostly in urban areas and mostly gang-related. The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young black men is not auto accidents or accidental drowning, but homicide.”

The cause? Elder believes it is a “fatherless culture.”

“Dads disappeared. Or, more precisely, to use Bill Cosby’s term, the number of ‘unwed fathers’ exploded,” he explained.

Elder’s book, “Dear Father, Dear Son,” is a personal memoir of his troubled relationship with his father and the astonishing outcome that develops when Elder finally confronts him.

Says Elder: “A man’s relationship with his father – every boy, every man lucky enough to have a father in his life has to figure that out. My own father? I thought I knew him – even though he seldom talked about himself. And what I knew I hated – really, really hated. Cold, ill-tempered, thin-skinned, my father always seemed on the brink of erupting. Scared to death of him, I kept telling myself to find the courage to ‘stand up to him.’ When I was fifteen, I did.” After that, said Elder, “We did not speak to each other for 10 years.

“And then we did – for eight hours.”

http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/cnn-shakeup-expected-to-push-piers-morgan/print/