Last week, I contended that Piers Morgan was gunning for a job at Fox News. However, Fox host Howard Kurtz complained Morgan was “rather petty” on yesterday’s Media Buzz. That does not bode well for Morgan’s chances at the network.
Last week, I noted that right around the time Morgan told Politico he was interested in a job with Fox, he just happened to publish an anti-Obama screed (that just happened to make it to Fox Nation) and followed all that up with an Obama-bashing appearance on the Hannity show. Alas for Morgan, it may all have been for naught.
Of course, it’s not Morgan’s politics that blew it.
KURTZ: Piers seemed rather petty when he wrote a Hollywood Reporter column ripping Anderson Cooper as a lousy lead-in for his show and calling him stiff in the studio. Anderson’s a good journalist and isn’t to blame for Morgan’s failure. CNN calls his criticism ‘sad’ and says he’s misrepresenting the ratings.
Notice that Kurtz made no independent verification of whether or not Morgan truly did misrepresent the ratings?
Later in the segment, Kurtz returned to Morgan:
He (Morgan) also says he lobbied CNN boss Jeff Zucker to dump Anderson Cooper and replace him with Megyn Kelly. And that Zucker said he had tried, just before Fox moved Megyn to prime time.
Considering the kinds of attacks on CNN to be heard regularly on Fox, you’d think criticizing CNN would be a plus for Morgan’s Fox resumé. Now, it could be that Kurtz likes Cooper and was just personally offended. Or it could be that Fox – which famously places a high value on loyalty among its ranks – views Morgan's backstabbing as a bad sign.
Whatever the reason, the fact that Kurtz would both outright criticize Morgan and also highlight his failed efforts to steal Fox’s Kelly away strongly suggests that no job offer from the "fair and balanced" network is on its way to him.
Memo to Morgan: Maybe next time, you should complain that Cooper is “too liberal” instead.
Watch Kurtz below.
Paranoid Nixon trainee Ailes puts loyalty high on the list for all of his employees. Morgan has demonstrated that, one, he cannot be trusted, and two, he is not a loyal employee, and the Nixon Trainee is not willing to take a chance on Morgan.
Morgan has burned his bridges with the networks. The suits do not like backstabbers, and get furious when employees go over their head. A lesser known cable network may hire him, but buyer beware.
It looks as though the only place left for you is Glenn Beck’s “Teh Blaaayz” . . .
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