CNN’s Ken Jautz On Piers Morgan And Questions About Hacking: It Won’t Have ‘Any Impact On The Show’

by Mark Joyella | 1:26 pm, August 5th, 2011

» 3 comments

CNN’s Piers Morgan, who’s forcefully defended himself in recent days against accusations of hacking by journalists who worked for him when he was a tabloid editor in London, has gotten a vote of confidence from the boss. Ken Jautz, CNN’s U.S. president, tells AdWeek “we were very familiar with his background and several people talked to him about [his tabloid background].” Jautz says Morgan’s effectively defended himself and “we do not believe there’s any impact on the show.”

Morgan fired back forcefully after Paul McCartney‘s ex-wife, Heather Mills, appeared on television in the U.K. claiming that a journalist working at the Daily Mirror under Morgan admitted to hacking her voicemail in 2001:

In his statement Wednesday, which was issued by CNN, Morgan described Mills’s accusations as “extravagant,” and said “I have no knowledge of any conversation any executive from other newspapers at Trinity Mirror may or may not have had with Heather Mills.”

Jautz also addressed the fact that Morgan had publicly positioned himself as something of a staunch defender of the Murdochs—a fairly unique stance for a CNN host. “These are his opinions based on his experiences with them. And he has his own opinions,” said Jautz, who added that he was comfortable with some on-air talent at CNN expressing opinion “so long as its based on their own experience, on their reporting, on fact and not on ideology.”

CNN, Daily Mirror, hacking, Heather Hills, Ken Jautz, Piers Morgan

Anonymous

That’s because few watch it as is.
Anonymous

“Piers Morgan” sounds like something for which you should be taking medication.
LibelFreeZone

Jautz added… “we do not believe there’s any impact on the show” from the recent controversy. Piers Morgan is the antithesis of what CNN purports to be. Apparently, no one at CNN wants to admit they made a hiring error. Morgan has a 3-year “pay or play” contract with CNN, so CNN would lose a lot of money if they were to suspend Morgan indefinitely. Too bad, so sad, CNN. If you pay attention to the thousands of viewer comments on the Murdoch saga throughout the internet, you’ll see that, yes, hiring Morgan did, in fact, have an impact on CNN, which is no longer perceived, since they hired Morgan, as caring about journalistic integrity. Morgan reportedly got the CNN job because he claimed he would frequently deliver a world leader to interview. Pfffft! That sure hasn’t happened, so maybe Morgan will be fired for low ratings, which is what Jautz means by “impact.” After the viewing public tunes in to see what all the fuss is about, they’ll conclude, “This hack? Who needs him?” Hopefully, THAT will be the end of Piers Morgan.