Piers Morgan is back where he’s probably most comfortable this week – splashed across our papers and hitting our airwaves – following an Ofcom ruling that cleared him for his comments about Meghan Markle on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
The presenter attracted widespread criticism when, in the immediate aftermath of that infamous Oprah interview, he disbelieved some of the claims made by the reluctant holder of the title “Duchess of Sussex”. Many viewers took exception to Morgan said he “didn’t believe a word” Markle said about struggling with suicidal thoughts, and challenged her account of allegedly experiencing racism during her time as a senior royal.
Indeed, close to 55,000 people subsequently registered a complaint with the TV watchdog, and demanded something be done. Ofcom has now ruled that he was entitled to offer his opinion, which Morgan hailed as a thumping endorsement of free speech. But is it really?
While I would like to share a glass of whatever Piers drinks at home with him in celebration, is it not a bit bizarre that in a free society a state agency has the right to pass judgement on a spat between two grown adults and consider imposing penalties on the media outlet concerned? Apparently, it exists to ‘protect’ we viewers. From what exactly? Why should there be any regulation of press freedom of speech whatsoever? If the Duchess wants to sue because of something that has been said about her what’s to prevent her from suing? Or to stop her issuing another of her much-prized press statements giving some back?
What’s also troubling, from a liberal perspective, is that Ofcom in its judgement recommended that ITV ‘take greater care’ when discussing issues around mental health and suicide. My own view is that these ought to be taken seriously in the instance of individuals who are suffering from serious mental illness. But Ofcom is setting a precedent whereby those who express robust, humanistic views which challenge the neo-left’s efforts to turn more people into so-called victims, will in future be cancelled, driven off our screens and airwaves. The fist in the velvet glove of contemporary left politics.
Now Piers hasn’t exactly displayed exemplary behaviour in this saga. He went down in my estimation (crushing for him, I expect) when he said ITV needed to give him an apology (not another one of those, please) and that he felt ‘disheartened’ when his employers had demanded he say sorry after the Duchess allegedly rather grandly lobbied the company chief exec, Dame Carolyn McCall, to get Morgan’s head on a plate. ITV, as a private employer, has the right to decide how they want to present themselves to the world, and if that means tugging their forelocks to their supposed social superiors, then who are we to object. Piers should, in turn, stop whingeing and get on with the business of being an adult. Enough already.
