CNN hasn't been shy about covering the phone hacking related woes of News Corp., parent of rival news network Fox News. It's devoted more than 100 segments to the scandal, according to liberal press watchdog Media Matters. But there’s one angle the network hasn’t gone anywhere near yet: Questions concerning CNN primetime host Piers Morgan’s previous life as a tabloid editor, and allegations that, when he ran the U.K.'s Mirror from 1995-2004, he may have approved of some hacking of his own.
And there's more:
Adweek asked CNN to confirm that so far, no air-time has been dedicated to reporting the Morgan-related side of the hacking story. A spokesperson confirmed as much, saying that the network hasn’t covered the matter becauseMorgan has not been officially called to testify in England.
As for the hacking allegations themselves, in a statement provided to Adweek, CNN referred to an interview Morgan gave on the CBS daytime program The Talk on Monday, in which Morgan said, “The papers I edited always operated within the law.”
“Piers Morgan and his former employer, [Mirror parent company Trinity Mirror], have both addressed the allegations in recent weeks,” a CNN spokesperson said.
For his part, Morgan has been sounding a fairly sympathetic note about Murdoch, telling hosts at The Talk, "I'm not going to join the Murdoch bashing. I’ve always been a big admirer of his, he gave me my first break in journalism. He made me editor of [News of the World] when I was 28 years old.” Morgan reiterated the point later, telling British news service ITN, “I’m certainly not going to join the queue to lambast [Murdoch] personally for this.”
Full details at Adweek.