The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade

The Insider is an addictive read, providing compelling insight into newspaper editing and the role tabloids play in politics and public relations. Intriguing enough just to revisit ten years of scoops and scandals, it is most interesting to see how liberally supposed news stories get 'splashed' recklessly over tabloid covers without serious substantiation or attempt at impartiality. It also gives character to the hitherto invisible journalists behind these vitriolic, hectoring papers - often foul-mouthed, hard-drinking egomaniacs it seems - and exposing the hypocrites and sycophants in the world of celebrity. The question you have to ask yourself while reading this is whether Piers Morgan is to be trusted. The world he appears to inhabit is the same slightly dubious reality that the tabloids reflect, and Morgan is a shameless name-dropper who enjoys boasting of his relationships with Diana and Tony Blair. He seems fit to burst with smug satisfaction at doing over his rivals and is quick to point out how clever he is. He likes to think that he was, as editor of a major tabloid, one of the most powerful people in public life and politics, depicting the government as pandering to his whims. I think he overstates the case, and is perhaps a little naive, but this is no less enjoyable a read for that.

This book wasn't what I expected it to be. I was slightly disappointed with it when I opened it and saw the diary style, small writing, I thought this is going to be really boring. How wrong I was, I took it on vacation and started reading it and it was very good, I found myself reading it at every opportunity. I am not a fan of Piers morgan but his Diary on life as a major Newspaper editor was excellent. It opened yours eyes on how Newspapers get their stories and headlines. It was a book well done. One little bit of advice though it is based mainly around British politics and celebrities

Piers Morgan comes over as an arrogant young man with an ego bigger than Ben Nevis. But that's undoubtedly one of the qualities you need to survive in the UK's tabloid wars. A compelling book, with some amazing inside stories of Britain's royals and politicians. How much Morgan actually wrote down in his diaries and how much came out of his fertile mind remains something of a mystery, In his days as editor of the Daily Mirror he never shirked from running spoof stories.