Three Rupert Murdoch stooges: Piers Morgan with Rebekah Brooks (disgraced former editor of The News of the World) and Andy Coulson (disgraced former editor of the News of the World and recently arrested former communications director for Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron)
Daily Beast: Members of Parliament are calling on the CNN host to return to the U.K. and disclose what he knew about phone hacking at his former paper, the Mirror.
…. Piers Morgan is certain to face official questioning in the U.K. about alleged phone hacking at the Daily Mirror while he was editor.
He will be required to answer claims by a former Mirror journalist, James Hipwell, and by Paul McCartney’s ex-wife, Heather Mills, that Mirror group reporters illegally accessed mobile-phone voicemails in the same manner that prompted the closure last month of Rupert Murdoch’s London Sunday tabloid, News of the World. But his questioners will have bigger, more general suspicions in mind as well.
… Morgan was editor of the Daily Mirror from 1995 to 2004 …. The new allegations leave him on the defensive, but other, more circumstantial evidence has long raised serious suspicions about what went on at the Mirror.
… Morgan is not known as a pillar of journalistic ethics. In 2000, while editor of the Mirror, he was censured by the Press Complaints Commission for his share-buying activities …. And in 2004 he was sacked after publishing photographs of British soldiers abusing Iraqis that turned out to be fake:
At the time, he was criticized for failing to make appropriate checks; later he would mount the curious argument that publication had been justified because later evidence showed that some British soldiers, in different circumstances, did abuse Iraqis.
… The allegations of the past few days make close scrutiny of Morgan’s record a certainty. James Hipwell, a former financial journalist who was jailed in 2004 in the same scandal over share dealings for which Morgan was criticized, told the Independent newspaper that hacking was common at the Mirror. Heather Mills described on BBC television a conversation with a senior Mirror Group reporter, at the time that Morgan edited the Mirror, in which the reporter admitted listening to her voicemails.
If Morgan is not already in close consultation with his British lawyers, he will be very soon.
Full post here
AP (July 20): After remaining on the sidelines of Britain’s phone hacking scandal, Piers Morgan was finally drawn into it, defending himself and his former boss Rupert Murdoch.
While Murdoch testified in London before Parliament, Morgan took to Twitter.
A former editor of the News of the World the CNN host has largely declined to address the scandal on his CNN nightly prime-time show, but he tweeted frequently in support of Murdoch throughout Tuesday’s inquiry.
….Morgan has backed Murdoch during the scandal. He said he was a “big admirer of” Murdoch and he would not “join in the kind of witch hunt that’s been going on”.
While following Tuesday’s hearing, he wrote: “Strong finish by Rupert. Love him or hate him, does anyone genuinely think he’s a crook or condoned crime? Because I don’t.”
*****
Piers? Go hack a murdered kid’s phone. Truly, that’s your ‘journalistic’ level ;-)
White House.gov
Cjpsticks you are on a roll today. Thank you and all of the other TOD froends for such good links and info.
OOps, of course, I meant “Chipsticks” .
What’s even more locally scandalous is that CNN has him on their payroll. “Most Trusted News” ? I do not allow my remote to settle on that station, ever, not even for PBO news.
EDP4BHO. . . just like you, I do not stop on that channel. I detest CNN and if I am surfing, I skip CNN. Don’t want to click at all to give them ratings!
You know what Martz. Peggy Noonan was right in one sense when she said nobody “loves” PBO. It’s the media, black and white, liberal and conservative, cable and network, radio and print. The only people who truly love him are all of the millions of supporters he has, praise be to God. This is what I am seeing. Comedians sell him short for laughs, African Americans have lost their damn minds trying to find “Mandingo” or “Shaft” in the White House and coming up empty, pundits get paid to speak lies to power, the un-Christian churches believe he is the anti-Christ because of not much more than his name is Barack Hussein Obama. I don’t know how he does it but he fights on, believing in his God-given ability to bring not just change, but good change, to a nation totally undeserving of his many labors. I feel a little disheartened this evening because of his inability to have a day of rest, like we do. Yes, he is the President, but no one is made to do this kind of battle, and the only possible means for him to keep pushing is by the grace of and deep belief in a higher power. For the first time ever, I cry for him this very minute. And because I am a little broken-hearted, and my emotions belie my chronological age, I HATE ALL OF THEM.
If you are including African Americans in the “Obama Suckfest”, you are quite mistaken. His approval ratings are virtually unchanged. However, the white professional left have been relentless in their attempts to peddle memes that Obama has done nothing for the AA Community. Thus, “he really doesn’t care about you”. And I’ll go as far to say there are folks like Jane Hamsher, Greenwald and Joan Walsh et. al who hide their contempt through concern trolling. Further, the media has been propping up malcontents, like Cornell West and sidekick Tavis Smiley as representative of the Black Community. By the way, look for those two traveling Greyhound-style this summer at a city near you yelling, “Obama… Oligarch… Plutocrat..” from bullhorns, on their much anticipated 15-city Nationwide Poverty Tour. Because you know, black folk are allowed only one mascot on TV. Recently there has been a concerted effort via blogs and cable to degrade Al Sharpton as a result of his recent success on MSNBC. Fact is they don’t want him to have a show that praises Obama in any way. Bets are if Al was playing Cenk on TV, nary a complaint. The recurring meme is that Al is unqualified or inexperienced or unrefined or carries too much baggage that should prevent MSNBC from placing him at the helm of a real TV show. Even Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley weighed in with blog postings. These MFckr’s aren’t fooling around. Everywhere you look these days the sense of entitlement and hubris on display reaches new heights. It is quite frustrating and often demoralizing to fight this beast on a daily loop. But guess what, black folks ain’t having it. They know exactly what’s going on and have taken to the blogs and twitter to push back. Again its the same old loudmouths yelling louder and loudest giving the impression that everyone must hate Obama. That’s why dry drunk Peggy Noonan made such a statement. That is what her trained eye tells her because the whole bunch live in a bubble, echo each other yet are consistently stunned when Obama’s approval ratings remain steady. They are that jaded. The other evening, Richard Wolfe of all people uttered something to the effect that he’s deserving of eating humble pie for misreading the level of support for this President. One last thought, if for any reason I misunderstood your meaning of the inclusion of AA Americans in your list, then I apologize.
And one more thing…..“piers morgan: obnoxious amoral rupert murdoch-worshiping turd” is the nicest thing I have to say about that man. Help us…our media is a cesspool!
Good morning ribletsonthepan. I will take the time to read your comment a bit later, but just wanted to clarify. Yes, you are correct in that we AAs do support our President. I should have stated the obvious, like those grifters you mentioned. I also noticed your last line, and no need to apologize. Oversight on my part, or as the kids say, my bad. Thanks much and looking forward to reading your full comments :-D
I have email Mr. Morgan twice. I didn’t get to nasty, I didn’t want to risk the chance of him hacking into my phone.
I told Mr. Morgan that maybe he could get his football coach to be his lawyer when he go to UK, or maybe the coach could take over for him at CNN while he’s over there lying, I mean telling the truth just like his buddy Murdoch didn’t.
Disgusting. Just disgusting. And this idiot has the nerve to call out President Obama on the S&P downgrade? Hypocritical SOB.
Hey Ut, am following you, are you following me? So far I have taken down Piers Morgan and Jon Stewart. off I go for more.
Chips I hear ya.
Dirty bastard. Rotten cow. Vile snake. Slimy goat.
These are the kindest descriptors I can find for this piece of scum.
“Morgan is not known as a pillar of journalistic ethics. In 2000, while editor of the Mirror, he was censured by the Press Complaints Commission for his share-buying activities …. And in 2004 he was sacked after publishing photographs of British soldiers abusing Iraqis that turned out to be fake:”
Morgan is a dishonorable man. He is doing what he and his parent company do best, carry GOP water. That’s why tonight he is working overtime on twitter trying to disparage President Obama. His day is coming soon in the UK. He needs to look around at the many who lie about this president and see where they are. You know what they say, karma is a bi**h.
And karma is awaiting you, Pierce.
Piers is a Pompous Azzzzzzzz
All this talk about blaming PBO for everything is so bogus. All those teabaggers, lazy “journalists”,right wingnuts and professional leftists have one thing in common: they are all bad at math. If we are to believe that Rusty Boehner got “98% of what I wanted” then we can safely assume that PBO got the other 2%, ergo, PBOe is not 100% responsible for the negative impact of this whole mess, it’s 98% Boehner’s fault. That’s basic computation.
Right you are !