CNN may be close to replacing veteran broadcaster Larry King with British journalist and America's Got Talent host Piers Morgan, according to various media reports. King has been on CNN for 25 years, but his show has lately suffered a ratings slump. Even though he has a year left in his contract, some industry watchers say he could be replaced by Morgan next year. (CNN has denied the rumors.) American viewers mainly know Morgan, 45, as the snarky, Simon Cowell-like judge on the Fox talent show, but he's famous in his home country both as a former tabloid editor and a TV interviewer whose questioning brought former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to tears. Would he be the right choice to replace King? (Watch a Sky News report about the rumored deal)
Hiring Morgan would be substituting entertainment for news: Say what you like about the aging King, says Adrian Chen at Gawker, but at least he's a journalist. Piers Morgan is an import from "the world of entertainment" who would speed CNN's "transformation into an insipid celebrity-fueled social networking machine." King made his name by wooing shiny celebrities into his studio. "Piers Morgan is a shiny celebrity."
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