As many have already figured out from his cheesy Life Stories series on ITV - a much longer and infinitely more tedious version of This Is Your Life, which at least had the benefit of surprise, and for those of us of A Certain Age, the excellence of Eamonn Andrews - and the use of Good Morning Britain to boorishly and predictably shout down guests, the journalistic range of former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan is strictly limited.
But Morgan has connections. He knows people. And what’s more, he is never backwards in coming forwards to tell anyone in earshot that he knows people. He is famous for knowing famous people. Just don’t mention that the Daily Mirror, during his time as editor, indulged in phone hacking on a scale so vast that he didn’t know it was happening.
Morgan’s connections include Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, who he claims to have interviewed for ITV. This potentially serious breach of the Trades Descriptions Act was broadcast yesterday evening, trailed so extensively that discerning viewers were able to ensure they were sitting comfortably, and watching something else.
So what pearls of wisdom were imparted during this encounter between two old pals? Was there any use in it having taken place, let alone being broadcast? Strangely, there was a purpose to the charade, but not in the way either participant might have hoped.
While Morgan maintained his softball approach, eschewing the vulgarity of those proper political interviewers, Trump’s rambling incoherence showed the world that this really is the real-life incarnation of Chauncey Gardiner. And that should frighten anyone watching.
This is what The Donald said about climate change: “There is a cooling and there is a heating. I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming, right? That wasn’t working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place. The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now but now they’re setting records. Now they’re at a record level. There are so many things happening. I tell you what I believe in - clear air, I believe in crystal-clear, beautiful water, I believe in just having cleanliness and all”. That’s a hick speaking. But one that got elected US President.
Did he eat burgers and drink Coke? “I eat fine food, really from some of the finest chefs in the world, I eat healthy food, I also have some of that food on occasion... I think I eat actually quite well”. So that’s a yes, then. And on feminism?
“No, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist … I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone”. He doesn’t understand what it means.
So Trump was not quizzed on all the affairs, the allegations of sexual assault, the Russia probe, North Korea, Iran, Steve Bannon, sympathy for racists and white supremacists, and his apparent inability to get anything done, barring a tax bill that will line the pockets of the well-off and leave his country indebted for years to come? On that, Morgan failed Journalism 101, and badly. But he inadvertently showed us his pal is an overgrown child.
It’s just a pity that he sought to normalise this grotesque, free speech hating, journalism trashing, bigoted, misogynist, ignorant, bullying fraud who watches Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse) and believes it. Call him what he is - unfit to serve.
Anybody with any sense of decency holds both Trump and Morgan in utter contempt. But there's no question they are both "important" in the sense that they are quite representative of the kind of poison we have allowed into our culture: some benighted souls even believe the poison is medicine.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, a long long time ago, Ed Murrow - nemesis of the drunk neofascist Joe McCarthy - warned of this development. At the dawn of mass TV audiences he said this:
"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it's nothing but wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.
Stonewall Jackson, who knew something about the use of weapons, is reported to have said, "When war comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." The trouble with television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival."
Well, you would have to be a complete ignoramus to see the battle, but not the war, has been lost to the advantage of the far right. You need only look at pabulum TV to see performing corpses in dead brained soap operas and gun-wielding "dramas". News and political programmes in particular are nothing but antiseptic bullshit built around artificial "personalities" and their laughably obvious right-wing propaganda. Sadly, it's possible to watch Al Jazeera and Russia Today and get relatively better insight to national and international events.
If Murrow was alive today he would blanch at the disgusting muck vomited into the ether on both sides of the Atlantic. It doesn't take much imagination to guess what he would have made of Donald Trump and Piers Morgan. Or for that matter of USA and Britain 2018. Everything he warned against has come to pass.
We have only ourselves to blame for the disreputable and reprehensible scoundrels and criminals who currently own, administer and present our politics and media. Until we are rid of all of them and their poison things will only get worse. But who in public life will be the first to stand up and denounce the whole rotten cabal?
Anonymus,
ReplyDeleteExcellent commentary on the disgraceful state of our and their politicians and so-called journalists.
I seem to remember Morgum was sacked from the Mirror for purveying 'Fake News' complete with staged and doctored photographs during the Gulf/Afgan War. Of course, no respectable public broadcaster would employ anyone with that on their CV ......would they? .......er
Remember Moron's pisspoor performance on 'Have I got news for you?' in the late 90's? He got taken apart by Ian Hislop, Angus Deyton and Clive Anderson (who was sitting in for an absent Paul Merton). Moron was Daily Mirror editor at the time.
ReplyDeleteHe kept getting increasing angry at both Hislop and Anderson and made thinly veiled threats to put his reporters onto them. However, it was Hislop Moron took an instant dislike to . it did not take long for Hislop to make a fool of him and indeed for Moron to make an even bigger fool of himself. He clearly forgot he was on a SATIRICAL COMEDY panel game.
A couple of weeks later, Moron still angry and smarting from his bruising encounter, he used the Daily Mirror to attack Ian Hislop personally, promising an expose on the man. A major spread with a huge picture of Hislop was printed promising to dig the dirt. This had become very, very , very personal. Moron apparently sent journalists round to Hislop's home village and attempted to find salacious gossip on him and his family. To their credit, his neighbours kept zip-lipped. The promised expose on Ian Hislop disappeared as quickly as it appeared never to be seen again.
Who does this remind you of? That's right, Trump, the idiot-in-chief. An equally thin skinned chump who gets angry ant any criticism or piss taking. Remember how angry he was at Barrack Obama when he made fun of Trump at the Correspondent's Dinner a number of years ago. Trump sat there getting more and more angry. Now look. He is obsessed with Obama and attempting to undo his legacy.
Trump and Moron. Two peas from the same rotten pod.
iMatt 18:04
ReplyDeleteIt was Piers’ appearance on Have I Got News For You that started the ball rolling for the shitshow that is Brexit, as this analysis explains:
http://ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Weaver%27s_Week_2016-07-10
The author also did a similar piece on the US Elections and how the Apprentice played it’s part:
http://ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Weaver%27s_Week_2016-11-20
The reason for the pathetically softball, non-journalistic interview is down to one reason: Piers Morgan is just as evil as Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't just a fight against people who 'aren't very nice' or something equally annoying-yet-inconsequential sounding. This is a fight against evil. Donald Trump is evil. The Republican Party is evil and rotten to the core. And Piers Morgan is evil. He even laughs at women DYING. He Laughs. At. Women. Dying.
This is why they all like each other so much- they're willing accomplices in a cartoonishly, almost fictional seeming evil. They won't succeed in their sick, woman-hating, poor-hating agenda- but how far they go in damaging millions of lives and purposely making people's lives anguished in the process will be unknown to history. So we need to make the number of people affected as small as possible.
"Two peas from the same rotten pod"
ReplyDeleteMore like two shits in the same pot.