And over in the Blue corner...
Piers Morgan is one of Britain’s leading media personalities and he’s promoting whisky. Dominic Roskrow met him
On the day I am to meet Piers Morgan, a row has erupted in the press between pop impressario Louie Walsh and singer Ronan Keating.
Keating has apparently criticised Walsh in an interview. And Walshâs response?
To withdraw all co-operation with the journalist who had the audacity to report Keatingâs outburst.
What makes this story remarkable is not just the fact that Walsh has shot the messenger. It is the fact that the offending quotes first appeared not in a British tabloid daily newspaper, but in the journalistsâ trade magazine UK Press Gazette.
Until a year ago few had heard of this worthy but pretty dull publication, and even fewer read it. And then Piers Morgan, who became Britainâs youngest national newspaper editor for 50 years when Rupert Murdoch appointed him as head of the News of the World in the 90s and who has rarely been out of the media spotlight since, bought it.
Cue fireworks.
âItâs pretty simple really,â he says over a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, â the job of any publication is to educate and entertain and I think that applies to any publication. I bring the same values to this title as I did to the News of the World or the Daily Mirror.
âMy view was that the trade magazine for journalists should be a shining example of good journalism.
âThereâs absolutely no point in publishing anything if nobody bothers to read it.â
Weâre meeting for two reasons. Firstly because throughout his irrepressible and irreverent book Th.....
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By Dominic Roskrow
Section : Whisky Spotlight
Page number : 14
