Tina Brown’s Party for Piers Morgan: Photos

17 debut on CNN, Newsweek/Daily Beast Editor in Chief Tina Brown honored Piers Morgan—and Diane Sawyer, Christiane Amanpour, Anderson Cooper, Charlie Rose, and others came out to celebrate. View photos.

One good thing about taking over a primetime slot on a cable news channel is that whether or not the ratings go up, you usually get at least a few big parties thrown on your behalf. Tuesday night, Piers Morgan got a grand one from this site’s own editor in chief, Tina Brown, and her husband, Harry Evans. Practically every major media maker in town was there—except for Rupert Murdoch.

Photos: Media Makers Toast Piers Morgan

Which is too bad since Morgan actually worked for the News Corp., chairman as the editor of News of the World when he was just 28 years old. As he told a rapt audience that included Diane Sawyer, Christiane Amanpour, Anderson Cooper, Charlie Rose, Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, and Arianna Huffington, he actually invited Murdoch to come on his show, saying to him on a scale of 1 to 100, what are the chances you might agree. “Less than zero,” responded Murdoch, who added that he wished him “good luck,” but not “success.”

Tina, who said that Piers could not only “hold up Larry King’s suspenders but everyone’s in the room,” reminded guests that before he was an American TV star, by way of NBC’s America’s Got Talent, he was a famed British tabloid editor who authored the 2005 book, The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade. Piers quipped in response that while Harry Evans' books are some of the yardsticks of journalism, his is the one that people leave hiding in the loo.

Piers Morgan Tonight premieres on CNN on Monday, January 17 at 9 p.m.