(Image Source: CNN)
BY STEVEN HSIEH
You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy.
CNN’s Piers Morgan is defending himself in a Tweet war over phone hacking. His enemies? A chick lit author turned British Parliament member, a convicted insider trader – and a widely read blogger who writes in the third person. Yeah.
The talk show host is fending off multiple allegations that he was involved with phone hacking while editor at The Daily Mirror. (Video: ABC)
On Wednesday, Irish political blogger Paul Staines – better known as Guido Fawkes – linked to a 2009 interview Morgan gave on BBC Radio 4’s program – Desert Island Disks. Fawkes calls the interview a –quote “smoking gun.”
Kirsty Young: “People who tap people’s phones, people who take secret photographs...who do all that very nasty down-in-the-gutter stuff—how did you feel about that?”
Piers Morgan: “Well, let’s put that into perspective. Not a lot of that went on…A lot of it was done by third parties, rather than the staff themselves… That’s not to defend it, because obviously you were running the results of their work.”
Does that interview implicate Morgan? He doesn’t think so – the talent show judge said in a statement. And a writer for Forbes agrees…
“Trash-sifting and paparazzi photography are very different matters from phone hacking. Morgan acknowledged that ‘I used to get up to’ some of those things, but he never said which. If this is the best evidence that anyone has against him, Morgan can sleep easy tonight.”
And last week, Louise Mensch, an author and member of British Parliament, inaccurately claimed Morgan admitted to phone hacking in his own book. Morgan confronted Mensch on his own network…
Morgan: “Well, I’m amused by her cowardice in refusing to repeat that allegation now that she’s not in Parliament, and covered by privilege… What she did today was a deliberate and outrageous attempt to smear my name, CNN’s name, the Daily Mirror’s name…
Morgan: “…So I think you should apologize for being a liar.”
Mensch: “And as to the threats that you just made, they don’t phase me in the slightest.”
Morgan: “Really? Well, they’re not threats. They’re asking you to correct a lie.”
And James Hipwell, a former colleague of Morgan who was fired in 2000 and convicted of insider trading said phone hacking was –quote “endemic” the Mirror. He tells the Independent…
“He was on the [newsroom] floor every day, walking up and down behind journalists, looking over their shoulders. I can’t say 100 per cent that he knew about it. But it was inconceivable he didn’t.”
The list of allegations and rebuttals run on and on – mostly on Twitter. Unfortunately, this video has to end at some point. So, for times’ sake – here’s some highlights.
From the MP: “I just asked @piersmorgan how his paper legally got Kate Winslet’s number. He appears to refuse to respond, @CNN”
And the blogger: “I’ve taken cabinet ministers down, Downing Street’s toughest operators, they were smart people. Not boastful idiots like you @PiersMorgan”
And finally, from Morgan himself: “I don’t mind being wrongly smeared with all this #Hackgate stuff, I’d just rather it wasn’t done by liars, druggie ex-bankrupts and conmen.”
Transcript by Newsy.
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