According to a CNN statement, the anti-gun liberal from across the pond, Piers Morgan, will no longer have a primetime slot on their network. His unpopular and controversial program could be off the air as early as March.
Morgan’s self-promoting style and anti-American stances prompted CNN’s audience to run to other networks in droves. The show’s audience has recently been roughly one-third the size of Rachel Maddow’s (MSNBC), and one-sixth the size of Megyn Kelly’s (Fox News) during the same time slot.
He was hired three years ago by former CNN president Jon Klein to replace the retiring Larry King. Since then, he has been a loud voice for the anti-gun left, particularly after the Aurora, Colo. shooting in the summer of 2012.
In a post-mortem interview, Morgan admitted that his anti-second amendment stance contributed to his show’s perpetually low ratings and subsequent demise.
“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…It’s been a painful period and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings.”
The cancellation of Morgan’s show highlights one of the beautiful things of a free-market system: even a network with ulterior motives must bend to the demands of their audience. A loss in audience, and thus advertising revenue, can ramp up the pressure on any media company’s executives to increase popularity and profits. In this case, CNN’s new president Jeff Zucker finally pulled the plug on a ratings disaster in an effort to turn around the network.
Morgan may cite his controversial political positions as the reason he’ll no longer have a show to host, and there’s no doubt they played a big role, but it’s the public’s participation in the free market that ultimately pushed him out.
Elizabeth BeShears is the Executive Director of Alabama Citizens for Media Accountability, a non-profit watchdog group dedicated to exposing bias in the Alabama and national media. For more information and articles, visit MediaAccountability.org
