Editor’s Dispatch: The Morgan Situation
Alan Nafzger on the Morgan evidence incident, British media culture, and the national talent for missing the point
From the desk of Alan Nafzger, Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
Editor’s Dispatch: The Morgan Situation
Our coverage of Piers Morgan walking off his own set after a guest introduced evidence has produced more reader mail than anything we have published this quarter, including the Pope story. I note this without comment, except to say: Britain, you have your priorities sorted out in your own very specific way and I have made my peace with it.
The incident itself: a guest on Morgan’s show presented factual information. Morgan, whose relationship with factual information is roughly analogous to a cat’s relationship with water – aware of its existence, fundamentally hostile to contact – left the studio. He later returned and declared the guest wrong without specifying how. This is a complete arc. This is British television in its mature form.
What This Tells Us
British media has a problem that is structural: it is built around conflict rather than clarity, and the conflict is entertaining but the clarity is what people actually need to make decisions about their lives. Morgan is a symptom of this. He is not the disease. The disease is a media ecosystem that rewards performance of certainty over demonstration of accuracy. Morgan is very good at performance of certainty. He is, in this respect, well-adapted to his environment.
According to The Guardian’s media desk, viewing figures for confrontational formats remain high. According to my reader mail, people found Morgan’s exit “hilarious,” “appalling,” “brilliant,” and “exactly what you’d expect.” All four responses are correct. Britain contains multitudes, and Morgan is several of them simultaneously.
I had a Bourbon biscuit. The Bourbon does not walk off. The Bourbon is, in this regard, more reliable than the host.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com