Just how close is Piers Morgan to taking over Larry King's coveted prime-time interview slot on CNN?

Pretty darn close, or so he told us on the red carpet at the Emmys Sunday night.

"We're near the end of negotiations and we're getting to what I hope will be a very happy resolution," he said.

He described the prospect of working for one of the "great holy grails of television" as "very exciting," but said his interview -- and personal -- style would differ greatly from King's.

"I love Larry King. He's one of my all-time heroes," he said. "So I wouldn't want to try and copy him because he's a legend. They're the biggest suspenders to fill imaginable. So I won't even try. I'll just be myself and no suspenders."

--Amy Kaufman

RELATED:

Piers Morgan mum on whether he's succeeding Larry King

Piers Morgan extends time on 'America's Got Talent' and is poised to take Larry King's CNN chair

It's been a month since Larry King announced that he will be leaving his nightly CNN talk show this fall, and the cable news channel still hasn't announced his replacement. The man most assume will get the job, British interviewer and "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan, made an appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show" on Tuesday, but dodged Jay Leno's questions about whether he was in line for the post.

"I can't actually talk about that at the moment, I’m afraid," Morgan said, though he confirmed that his new deal on "America's Got Talent" would allow him to do other jobs.

Leno pressed on, asking who Morgan would want to interview as his first guest if he had a show on a network with a "C with a bunch of Ns in it."

Morgan said his dream guest would be Nelson Mandela, saying: "He's given the whole black population of South Africa hope, which they never had in the time of apartheid.... And at a time like now, when everyone is at war, they could all do with probably an hour of Nelson Mandela."

(For the record, King interviewed Mandela in May 2000, saying he was someone he had always wanted on the program.)

-- Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly offered a rare mea culpa Wednesday, apologizing for airing a controversial tape of a speech given by a black U.S. Dept. of Agriculture official that was edited to make it appear she was racist.

Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign Monday after conservative activist Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP dinner on his website BigGovernment.com in which she appeared to say that she had once discriminated against a white farmer. The edited clip did not include the portion of the speech in which Sherrod said the episode had taught her the importance of overcoming personal prejudices.

The video sparked a conflagration in the blogosphere and cable news that at first outraced the facts. O’Reilly was the first on cable to air the video, calling for Sherrod’s resignation Monday night. (By the time his taped show aired, she in fact had already resigned, a fact Fox News noted on the screen.)

On Wednesday, he said he should have gotten the full story first. “I owe Ms. Sherrod an apology for not doing my homework, for not putting her remarks into the proper context,” he said on "The O'Reilly Factor," adding that his own words had been taken out of context by critics in the past. “I well understand the need for honest reporting.”

The rapid-fire denunciation of Sherrod, followed by hasty backtracking by her critics, underscored how quickly controversies can mushroom and then disintegrate in the current media age. Her resignation made headlines on cable news Monday night, getting covered extensively by Fox News’ prime-time commentators and reported on CNN before the context of her remarks was clear.

On Wednesday, the White House apologized to Sherrod, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack offered her a new position with the agency.

Both Sherrod and the NAACP – which first condemned her remarks, then reversed itself -- put the blame in part on Fox News for hyping the story, a charged the cable news channel rejected.

Michael Clemente, senior vice president of news editorial, said the network’s news programs reported the story with caution. “When I heard about this Monday morning and saw it on Breitbart’s website, I said, ‘OK, could be a story, let’s check it out,’ ” Clemente said. “We did the normal fact-finding we would do on any story.”

At an afternoon editorial meeting Monday, Clemente urged the staff to first get the facts and obtain comment from Sherrod before going on air, according to internal notes from the meeting that were provided to The Times. “Let’s make sure we do this right,” he said.

Sherrod ended up resigning Monday afternoon, hours before O’Reilly broke the story on his show. The first reported piece on Fox News, by correspondent James Rosen, aired on Tuesday morning, and included a second video clip that added context to Sherrod’s comments.

But Fox’s commentators showed less restraint. O’Reilly continued to condemn Sherrod’s comments on his show Tuesday night, saying she made a mistake, even after it had emerged that her words had been misrepresented.

On Wednesday, the host said that he “did not analyze the entire transcript, and that was not fair.” Still, O’Reilly called her a "longtime liberal activist" and said the language Sherrod used suggested that she “very well may see things through a racial prism." He said she belonged in the private sector, not working for the government.

-- Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

Piers Morgan will stay at Sharon and Howie's table -- and he looks poised to get his own desk on CNN as well.

Morgan, the British journalist best known in the U.S. as a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent," just struck a new three-year deal to stay on the program, where he serves alongside Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel. In the meantime, the deal will free him to negotiate to replace Larry King in CNN's coveted 9 p.m. Eastern berth, according to sources familiar with the situation. Last month, King announced he would retire after 25 years on "Larry King Live." 

Morgan has been rumored for weeks as a possible replacement for King, but his NBC deal had been a major sticking point. Under the terms of the new contract, Morgan's duties for "America's Got Talent" will take precedence over any responsibilities he will have at CNN. The show has been a staple of NBC's summer lineup since 2006.

Networks seldom release talent to work for other outlets, and talent-sharing arrangements are rarer still, CNN's Anderson Cooper and PBS' Charlie Rose being notable exceptions. One factor that helped sweeten the deal for NBC was that Turner Broadcasting, CNN's parent company, offered NBC some financial concessions on other deals involving the two companies. 

The King show was during the 1990s a major stop for political candidates and other newsmakers -- Ross Perot's appearances during his 1992 presidential bid were particularly closely watched -- but the program's fortunes have lately fallen, along with the rest of CNN's prime-time lineup.

Octavia Nasr, CNN’s senior editor of Mideast affairs, lost her post Wednesday amid mounting criticism of a message she posted on Twitter expressing sadness at the death of a Lebanese cleric who once was an influential spiritual leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Nasr, who had worked for the cable news network for two decades, had already apologized in a blog post on CNN.com for “an error in judgment” in writing that Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah was “one of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot" after his death Sunday.

At one time Fadlallah was considered a major spiritual leader of Hezbollah. In recent years, however, he had lost influence as he distanced himself from many elements of radical Islam and had condemned violence against women. Fadlallah continued to call for the elimination of Israel and was designated a terrorist by the U.S., Nasr noted in her blog post.

Nasr’s remarks were condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which called Fadlallah “an international ‘godfather’ of terrorism” and asked CNN to formally repudiate the comment.

The network issued a statement saying the tweet violated CNN’s editorial standards. Nasr herself said she was wrong to “to write such a simplistic comment.”

“I'm sorry because it conveyed that I supported Fadlallah's life's work,” she wrote in her blog post. “That's not the case at all.” Rather, Nasr said, she was referring to the fact that Fadlallah took “a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on woman's rights” and had called for the abolition of honor killings. She noted that she lost family members in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that Fadlallah was suspected of orchestrating.

But CNN executives concluded that her comment had irreparably damaged Nasr’s standing.

“We believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward,” Parisa Khosravi, CNN International’s senior vice president for newsgathering, wrote in an e-mail to employees announcing her departure.

Nasr, who was based in Atlanta, served as a Middle Eastern expert for CNN, contributing to coverage about the region’s politics, as well as stories about global terrorism and militant Islam. Fluent in Arabic, as well as English and French, the Lebanese-born journalist got her start as a war correspondent for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, covering that country’s civil war. She joined CNN in 1990 and played a major role in the network’s coverage of the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as the Middle Eastern peace process, according to her official biography, which calls her “a leader in integrating social media with newsgathering and reporting.”

-- Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

Photo credit: CNN

RELATED:

Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah dies at 74; Lebanon's top cleric was once Hezbollah's mentor

Larry King, whose nightly CNN talk show was long a required stomping ground for striving politicians and contrite celebrities, announced Tuesday that he is going to step down from the program in the fall.

The 76-year-old will not be leaving CNN altogether: He signed a new contract to host quarterly specials on the cable news channel.

But his departure from prime time marks a major turning point for CNN, which has built its schedule around "Larry King Live" for 25 of the network’s 30 years on the air. This year, however, the program has seen a sharp fall-off in audience. An average of 677,000 viewers tuned in during the second quarter of 2010, down 37% from the same period last year, according to Nielsen.

In a nod to how much the medium has changed since King began broadcasting in 1957, he broke the news himself on Twitter, writing:  “Announcing tonight: I’m ending my nightly show this fall but continuing at CNN. http://bit.ly/9hBv9.” 

King has long called himself an interviewer, not a journalist, logging more than 40,000 sit-downs with newsmakers since he began broadcasting in 1957, according to CNN.

It remains unclear who will replace him. CNN has not confirmed recent reports that it is in talks with Piers Morgan, a British journalist who judges NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” CBS anchor Katie Couric’s name has been frequently floated as a possible successor, and King himself has volunteered that he thinks “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest would be a worthy contender.

The end of King’s nightly show comes as CNN is working to refashion its low-rated prime-time schedule. Last week, the network announced a new roundtable show hosted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker will debut in the 8 p.m. ET time slot this fall, replacing the newscast anchored Campbell Brown. The hiring of Spitzer, who resigned from office after revelations that he solicited prostitutes, disappointed many CNN employees and drew external criticism that the network was abandoning its news mission.

King explained in a CNN.com statement, which he linked on his Twitter page, that he asked his network to let him "hang up his suspenders."

"Twenty-five years ago, I sat across this table from New York Governor Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast of Larry King Live. Now, decades later, I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids’ little league games."

In an e-mail to employees, CNN President Jon Klein wrote: "Larry is a beloved member of the CNN family and he will continue to contribute to our air with periodic specials. Larry has been a giant in the industry for as long as most of us can remember. Anyone who ever mattered has sat for an interview on Larry's iconic set.  They all know the man it is our privilege to call our colleague and friend--tireless and curious, respectful and inquisitive, caring, generous, influential, a citizen of the world.

-- Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

[Updated 4:28 pm. This post has been updated with a direct statement from King.]

[Updated 4:48 p.m. This post has been updated with comments from an e-mail CNN President Jon Klein wrote to employees.]

Photo: Larry King speaks during "Larry King Live: Disaster in the Gulf Telethon," held at CNN LA on June 21, 2010, in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Jordan Strauss/Getty Images for CNN

Now that CNN has settled on new hosts for its 8 p.m. Eastern hour -- making the "innately controversial decision," as CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein put it, to pair former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer with conservative columnist Kathleen Parker -- attention is shifting back to the network’s next task.

With talk show host Larry King's contract up in a year, there's been no end to the speculation that he will be replaced. One option being considered is that King would be offered another two-year contract, but would not remain a fixture in prime time, according to a source familiar with the possibilities. CNN, which has denied reports that it is close replacing King, declined to comment.

Who would step into King's shoes? Earlier this month, the British press were abuzz with reports that his successor would be Piers Morgan, a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent" as well as the U.K. version of that show. On Monday, the New York Post reported that one possible candidate, CBS anchor Katie Couric, had declined the job and is in serious talks to stay at CBS.

But a source familiar with the situation said Couric has not turned down an offer from CNN and has not begun negotiating with anyone about what she will do after her current contract expires in 2011. Couric appears to be leaving the door open to pursuing a variety of options, including remaining at CBS. Negotiations with that network are not expected to begin until the fall.

After struggling unsuccessfully to lift the "CBS Evening News" out of third place in the ratings, Couric is thought to want a deal that would give her a range of platforms, perhaps even through her own production company. A talent-sharing arrangement with CBS and CNN is a possibility -- the two networks have similar deals with Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta.

-- Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

RELATED:

CNN says reports that Larry King is close to being replaced are untrue

Photo: CNN's Wolf Blitzer and CBS' Katie Couric attend the U.S.-Ghana World Cup match at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, on June 26. Credit: Ian Walton / Getty Images

CNN announced Wednesday that it had hired former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker to helm a new point-counterpoint show in the key 8 p.m. ET hour, recruiting two headstrong political figures in a bid to revive its flagging viewership.

The network described the new program as a "spirited, nightly roundtable discussion program" that will be focused on the biggest stories of the day.

"Other cable news channels force-feed viewers one narrow, predictable point of view; in contrast, CNN will be offering a lively roundup of all the best ideas -- presented by two of the most intelligent and outspoken figures in the country," CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein said in a statement. "Eliot and Kathleen are beholden to no vested interest -- in fact, quite the opposite: They are renowned for taking on the most powerful targets and most important causes."

The move represents a return to CNN’s old playbook: The new program shares the same DNA as "Crossfire," the long-running political debate program that Klein canceled in 2005, saying the network wanted to move away from "head-butting debate shows." At the time, Klein said he agreed with comedian Jon Stewart's criticism that the show "was hurting America," adding that viewers were hungry for information, not opinion.

But faced with a dwindling audience for the newscast that Campbell Brown hosts at 8 p.m., network executives concluded that they needed to inject more forceful opinions into the network's coverage to compete with the strong personalities on rivals Fox News and MSNBC. A point-counterpoint format gives the network an avenue to do so while still maintaining that it is committed to nonpartisan journalism.

 
Lawrence O’Donnell, whose career has taken him from the halls of the U.S. Senate to the writing room of a top entertainment show, is now getting his own prime-time show on MSNBC.

The cable news network announced Tuesday that O’Donnell, a longtime political analyst for MSNBC who has been a regular substitute for Keith Olbermann, will helm a show that will air weeknights at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET, replacing the repeat of Olbermann’s nightly program.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said O’Donnell fits perfectly with the rest of the network’s lineup, calling him “smart, progressive and based in fact.”

The move gives MSNBC a solid block of left-leaning hosts in prime time.

Griffin said he concluded O’Donnell was the right pick for the time slot after seeing that he was able to hold much of Olbermann’s viewership when he filled in for him during the last year. “He’s proven to connect with our audience,” Griffin said.

O’Donnell served as a top advisor to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and chief of staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. He then moved into television, working as a writer and executive producer on “West Wing,” for which he won an Emmy. He’s also had stints as an actor, most recently portraying an attorney on the HBO show “Big Love.”

“Between politics and pop culture, there’s probably no better person,” Griffin said.

When O’Donnell’s new show premieres, which is expected to be sometime in the next few months, MSNBC will move repeats of “Countdown” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” back one hour so they will air at the same time on the West Coast as they do in the East.

MSNBC executives have contemplated launching a new show in the 10 p.m. hour for some time. Last year, fans of liberal radio host Cenk Uygur of the Internet show "The Young Turks" and Sam Seder of Air America lobbied executives to select one of the two men for the time slot, urging the network to bring on another host with the liberal leanings of Olbermann and Maddow.

At the time, Griffin said he wasn’t necessarily looking for a host with similar ideology. “I want that hour to be edgy, to be smart, to be a little snarky,” he said.

On Tuesday, Griffin said he hadn’t given himself any particular deadline to create a 10 p.m. show. “I’ve been looking for years. The opportunity came up because Lawrence was ready and we’re ready, honestly.”

— Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

 
Despite several reports that CNN is poised to sign a deal with “America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan to replace Larry King, people inside the network said there is no rush to pick a successor to King, who has another year left on his contract.

Rather, executives remain intently focused on developing a new show for the 8 p.m. ET time slot now that anchor Campbell Brown has decided to leave the network. CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein is strongly considering a political point-counterpoint show in the vein of “Crossfire,” which he canceled shortly after joining the network. Among those being evaluated as possible panelists are former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

“Not surprisingly, there is no shortage of people who would love to succeed Larry King if and when he moves on, but rumors that we are close to signing a deal for a Larry King replacement are untrue,” said a CNN spokeswoman. “We are currently looking at replacing our 8 p.m. program and that is our priority. Larry is a beloved member of the team, and he will continue to be part of the CNN family into the future.”

The New York Post first reported last week that Morgan, a onetime British tabloid newspaper editor who serves as a judge on “Britain’s Got Talent,” as well as the American version of that show, was in talks with CNN. Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported that Morgan was close to signing a four-year deal with the network.

If CNN does tap Morgan to come aboard in some role, he would bring a background in entertainment programming and an interest in the power of celebrity. Aside from his work as a reality-competition judge, he was also the winning contestant on “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2008. He hosted a British show called “The Dark Side of Fame” and currently has a talk show in Britain called “Piers Morgan’s Life Stories.” In 2004, he was fired from his post as editor of the Daily Mirror after running fake photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees.

-- Matea Gold

twitter.com/mateagold

Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

RELATED:

This isn't CNN's prime time