Piers Morgan Scolds MP Who Cited Him During Murdoch Ordeal: ‘Show Some Balls!’

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by Josh Feldman | 7:23 pm, July 19th, 2011

» 52 comments

CNN’s Piers Morgan stayed relatively quiet for the first few weeks of the News Corp. scandal, but when questions started to arise about his role in phone hacking during his work as a tabloid editor at two separate papers (one of them Murdoch-owned), he began a pushback against these rumors. He denied being involved in any wrongdoing on his show last night, but it took a member of Parliament calling him out by name to get Morgan to aggressively defend himself and his reputation.

MP Louise Mensch brought up Morgan during the Rupert Murdoch testimony earlier today, specifically referring to a portion of his book The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade that seems to indicate Morgan knew of phone hacking. The excerpt in question specifically reads, “Apparently, if you don’t change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don’t answer, tap in the standard four digit code to hear your messages. I’ll change mine just in case, but it makes me wonder how many public figures and celebrities are aware of this little trick.”

Mensch suggested that this implied Morgan knew about phone hacking, but on Twitter earlier, Morgan denied this was the case. Well, on The Situation Room today, Morgan and Mensch were brought together, and the results were nothing short of electrifying.

Wolf Blitzer introduced the segment by first asking Mensch to elaborate on her comments about the CNN host, but she said that she “can’t comment about it outside of the committee room.” Morgan, who was calling in during the segment, minced no words in giving his thoughts on Mensch’s reluctance to repeat her earlier accusations.

Well, I’m amused by her cowardice in refusing to repeat that allegation now… As she may be already aware, she came out with an absolute blatant lie during those proceedings. At no stage in my book or indeed outside of my book have I ever boasted of using phone hacking for any stories.

Morgan again insisted that during his tenure at both The Daily Mirror and News of the World he never hacked phones to get a story or published any story that was obtained through illegal phone hacking. But Morgan directed his comments back at Mensch, and absolutely ripped into her for not repeating her earlier words to his face (so to speak):

What she did today was… a deliberate and outrageous attempt to smear my name, CNN’s name, The Daily Mirror‘s name. And to have the breathtaking gall to sit here calmly and say “I can’t possibly repeat that because I haven’t got privilege” is an outrage. And I call on you to repeat it, show some balls, repeat what you said about me and then maybe go and buy a copy of my book The Insider and see where in that book, these claims that you made today in a televised committee watched all over the world, where that claim is in that book. because it isn’t there.

Mensch refused to respond to Morgan’s remarks, and after a commercial break, Morgan re-joined Blitzer on camera this time. Morgan argued that Mensch misunderstood the excerpt of his book. He claims he only brought up the issue of phone hacking in his book because someone he knew told him how easy it would be, and encouraged him to change his pin number. He also questioned Mensch’s “parliamentary privilege” defense, dismissing it as “a rather mysterious entity.”

Blitzer drew the conversation away from Morgan’s umbrage at Mensch and towards his personal relationship with Rupert Murdoch. Morgan credited the mogul for making him one of the youngest newspaper editors in the country, and referred to Rebekah Brooks as “one of my oldest friends.” His take from today’s Parliamentary hearing was that Murdoch had no idea that any phone hacking took place, and had he known, he would have cracked down on any illegal activities sooner.

Morgan also addressed Murdoch’s management style and how the boss rarely interacted with his underlings:

When [Murdoch] says he didn’t have much day-to-day contact with these papers, that’s true. I spoke to the editors of News of the World maybe once a week, maybe once every two weeks. He never asked me about methodologies of stories, he didn’t have time… I had editors, I have managers, I have lawyers, I have accountants. They do all the box ticking here. My job is just to get an overview of what’s going on.

When you run a company of 50,000 people, it is a bit ridiculous to expect Rupert Murdoch to be all over the microdetail of how each individual part of the company gets run. As he said, he may have been let down by other people that he charged to look after this detail, and big mistakes were made. And when it came to the phone hacking of the young missing girl and so on, utter outrages. And everybody shares that view.

Blitzer closed the segment by letting viewers know Morgan would have more on the story on his program tonight, so it’s clear that although most of the press he’s getting is not very favorable, Piers Morgan is suddenly a popular media topic, and everybody wants to hear his unique and very personal take on an issue that has captivated viewers all over the world.

Watch the video of the entire exchange below, courtesy of CNN:

CNN, Louise Mensch, News Corp., News of the World, Parliament, Phone Hacking, Piers Morgan, rupert murdoch, The Daily Mirror, Wolf Blitzer

Chudi

That woman has to be the most stupid idiot I have ever seen. I hate when these politicians can make accusations and not stand behind them.
Anonymous

Fact: Scuds are flying everywhere! Liberals run amuk!
http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

Maybe we should drag Ted Turner before the panel.

What say you, libs? Fair, right?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FSPIVAFYI672OH5NOKVRTEZA4U MadCharles

Flashback: CNN made a secret deal with a named terrorist state’s dictator, Saddam Hussein not to report the despair and brutality leveled on the Iraq citizens in exchange for CNN having exclusive in-country access for news gathering and reporting provided reports were pro Saddam Hussein. I wonder if CNN America has made other secret deals with named terrorist state’s in exchange for news gathering and reporting. North Korea comes to mind. CNN seems to travel there quite regular since Obama took over.
http://www.constitutionallibertarian.co.cc/ DavidKramer

Oh how the worm has turned. I am going to give you some advice Morgan, just like I gave to Fox News. Do not cover it. Do not waste your time. OF COURSE the conservatives will not attack you as aggressively as the lefties have attacked Fox, but the same rule applies.

It is a no win situation. If you deny any wrong doing, you will be accused of covering things up and lying. If you do not cover it you will be said to be avoiding the topic.

All you do is state directly that you will not be covering rumors, except of course of other people, and that you will allow the investigators do their job.

But you will not, because you are all morons. All I would do, is to address any real investigative accusations but not rumor mill accusations. But hey, who am I to advise such a great rumor monger.
http://twitter.com/Staciisa_bitch Staci Chase

Fox news is looking more like Enron everyday. Former Bush Administration officials are about to drop another bombshell.
http://twitter.com/BritWales BritWales_UK

Today, direct to @piersmorgan via Twitter, I explained that regardless of an old, previous or new Pin Number for a Mobile/Cell Phone, a signal is sent to any phone number ID basically telling it that the communication is from it’s own number ID thus permitting access to messages, data and information contained therein. That is called Phreaking.
Phreaking is a portmanteau of the two words phone and freak, it also refers to the use of various audio frequencies to manipulate a phone system.Hacking is computers to computers. Phreaking = crime of illegally accessing telephones, not hacking. Why do Jurnos and authorities mistakenly type #hacking in relation to illegally accessing phones ? Please jurnos note, regarding phones’ accessing scandal, it is #PhreakingGate not #HackGate
Anonymous

I’m no fan of Morgan but nowhere in his book quote does it imply guilt of any kind.

This round goes to him.
http://twitter.com/davidhaigh David Haigh

This Morgan connection is just a side-show right now. No-one is looking good out of it. Mensch clearly misquoted Morgan and should apologise. Morgan only today comes out in support of Brooks after seeing that she hasn’t monstrously incriminated herself. Both are chasing media points.
Anonymous

The more I learn of this, the more it looks to be a Fleet Street problem. But, MURDOCH! Thus, FAUX NOISE! As it ever was. Yawn.

Wake me up when Cameron resigns, would you?
Anonymous

Why? Because journalists often write authoritatively about subjects they have no understanding of whatsoever.
Anonymous

Blitzer closed the segment by letting viewers know Morgan would have
more on the story on his program tonight, so it’s clear that although
most of the press he’s getting is not very favorable, Piers Morgan is
suddenly a popular media topic, and everybody wants to hear his unique
and very personal take on an issue that has captivated viewers all over
the world.

Look out, Hannity! Tonight’s the night, baby!
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

For a brief period this afternoon, Piers Morgan was once again trending on Twitter.

Otherwise, I agree with Piers that MP Mensch’s second reference to him — the one given as a question to Rebekah Brooks — was a lot more damning and it’s probably the portion for which she’s worried about having the protection of parliamentary privilege.

I took a moment to isolate her second question in the C-SPAN video. I clipped her question in its entirety to provide context and because she comes back around with a quick jab toward Morgan at the end.
http://www.facebook.com/kiwicarioca Robert McCall

Where there´s smoke there´s fire people!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FSPIVAFYI672OH5NOKVRTEZA4U MadCharles

MadCharles. Worlds first karate robot
madcharles.com
Rave from Dave

Piers left (got kicked off) the Mirror because he publish a story and photos (front page) of soldiers mistreating terror suspects when he knew the photos were completely faked. They were in fact actors re-enacting the so called mistreatment and there was no proof and no real photos. So for him to take the moral high ground is a joke.
Dik Gozinya

Wikileaks, thru the publishing of the New York Times, put the lives of possibly 1000′s of American allies in danger and yet the DemoKKKrats go after this Murdoch.

Watch out America!-the ‘Left doesn’t want you to know what Obama and the rest of these clowns are up to.
Anonymous

Piers is looking to get himself some publicity by telling a woman to get some “balls”, his show is not doing what he thought it would, and this is how he ups his game? I can’t stand this sissy man, his show is terrible and he is a fraud……
Dik Gozinya

Whine much?
Boomshakalaka

That chick should have done her homeworks before stating BS during an official hearing that millions of people were watching…she deserved that spanking and then some..she’s a goddamn MP for crying out loud….no one on her staff double checked the info?…Fuc*** pathetic.
Boomshakalaka

Call the Firefighters then dumbass…
Anonymous

Will Clegg take over then…?
Anonymous

Murdoch is a mean man who cares nothing for human beings…for REGULAR people. He has lowered the standards of broadcast journalism by allowing his Fox news to be the sleazy tabloid-style of reporting….. I had hopes in the beginning that it would be different, but I remembered that someone said we would soon come to regret allowing him to become a citizen and come into our country.
Nature Freak

I refuse to feel sorry for Piers Morgan.
We shall see what happens. Piers I suspect is lawyering up.
http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

yeah the nerve..you would think they was blog commentators or something!
LibelFreeZone

What seems to be overlooked in all discussions about the MP’s statement in Parliament today is that for over a decade, Morgan worked for publications whose stock in trade is wild hyperbole, gross exaggeration and outright lies. He made his living editing “newspapers” that are useful for nothing more than lining the birdcage. Yet who’s the first to cry foul when someone says something he claims to be untrue about himself? “Breaking news! Pot attacks kettle! Live at eleven!” What a riot! How Morgan got hired by CNN is a complete mystery. Doesn’t anyone properly vet the on-air help over there, for cryin’ out loud?! If it’s determined that Morgan did, in fact, even once resort to hacking to obtain a scoop, I fully expect CNN to fire Morgan forthwith, without delay, with no severance pay, and announce it in prime time. In the meantime, Morgan’s tawdry tabloid past* speaks for itself.

*The Sun (1989–94)
News of the World (1994–95)
Daily Mirror (1995–04)
LibelFreeZone

I think the MP may have misspoken, but not about Morgan and hacking. She mentioned Mogan’s book, “Inside Story,” when, in fact, Morgan has written eight books. The BBC is now aggressively pursuing this story, so don’t say “Morgan never hacked.” We just don’t know yet. He has a slimy history, having worked for well over a decade for not one but three notorious British tabloids. He now lives in the U.S. where everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but I think he did some pretty underhanded things (he calls them “aggressive” and “ruthless,” “as all reporters should be”). Oh, yeah? Well, now you’re on the hotseat, buddy. How’s the fit?
http://twitter.com/DidAshtonK_Know Did Ashton K Know

Piers Morgan keeps challenging Louise Mensch to repeat her accusations outside of parliamentary privilege, but they have already been made on Twitter by political blogger Paul Staines aka “Guido Fawkes” and this in turn has been reported by UK tabloid The Daily Express and a number of websites, which do not enjoy the same protection as the MP. If Piers is indeed innocent of publishing a story which he knew to have been obtained by phone hacking, he has ample opportunity to sue – surely the fact that he has not done so implies his guilt? If you need any further details I can be found on Twitter under the same user name
http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

actually, it’s about the only show on CNN I do watch or look for.. he does good interviews..
http://twitter.com/BritWales BritWales_UK

Piers Morgan, you, we, all of Britain and whoever throughout the world might follow these issues, were done a big favour during the Parliamentary Hearing by MP Louise Daphne Mensch (nee Bagshawe) (dob 28/6/1971) who merely demonstrated most clearly that individuals such as herself knowingly lie to the British Government and people of this nation. PM David Cameron told the House of Commons recently when questioned by a Back-Bencher that he had not seen Andy Coulson after his job finished but spoke with him on the telephone – however, people reported Coulson had subsequently been invited and actually attended Cameron’s own Slumber Party at Chequers. Regarding Mensch, a psychologist Susan Quilliam has previously stated that books by the 40 year old MP Louise Mensch cause irrationally high expectations which “ruin readers’ lives” by saying it merely makes readers raise their standards. In 1985 as Louise Bagshawe, she was a Conservative young member when aged 14 years, then when Louise Mensch in 1996 she briefly switched to Labour. By 1997 she had returned with the Conservatives to assist her mother, Daphne, win a seat in East Sussex County Council from the Liberal Democrats. News articles on Mensch include perhaps why she is negatively loud on press issues, for example, one story on the Conservatives which ran during 2009: ”Some high-profile women are already installed in winnable seats: Louise Bagshawe. Writer John Crace once commented, ”Digested read, digested”, summary of Mensch’s book Desire was “Vote for Louise. If only to stop her writing.” She was elected in 2010. Mensch was a guest on ’Have I Got News for you’, 22nd April 2011 wherein her contribution was briefly censored because she purposefully alluded to the identity of a footballer involved in a super-injunction case. Louise Mensch is sister of Tilly Bagshawe, a freelance journalist, author of Adored in July 2005.
Piers, you are even being featured on television morning shows today in Britain, so enjoy the exposure as any publicity is useful to you surely. Piers here is some Food-for-Thought for you: Nelson Mandela once stated, “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill”. 3/79
http://twitter.com/BritWales BritWales_UK

Legal Action Pending ?

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Rebecc/start/1257/stop/1372
“Herein Lies Untruths” stated at the Parliamentary Hearing by Conservative MP Louise Daphne Mensch (nee Bagshawe, dob 28/6/1971) demonstrating most clearly that individuals such as herself knowingly lie to the British Government and people of this nation, even on live global television broadcasts.
kc

I think what anger Piers was MP Louis Mensch called him out and accusing him of phone hacker in a world wide televise hearing. And what’s up with MP Louise Mensch she was smiling and giggling at Wolf show; just because she has parliamentary privilege it doesn’t mean that she can say what she want. It appears that she doing it for personal gain.
Anonymous

Without a doubt she is a bomb thrower.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Anca-Diaconu-D/100000768490616 Anca Diaconu D

http://adf.ly/28n8i piers morgan
http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

Indeed! we really need to get back to quality journalism in the mold of MSNBC and Anderson Cooper. Or Dan Rather. Yes, journalism was a high art form practiced by only the most learned and wise of scholars until 1996 when Fox started.

LOL
Anonymous

Interesting; there is zero evidence to implicate Murdoch in any of this, and yet….most folks here (the lefties anyway) are claiming he is guilty as sin all the while claiming that Piers is innocent.

Whatever.

I agree with O’Reilly; this story is being over-covered at this point with speculation running amok. It’s a bad story and the truth will out itself, and the media doesn’t have to make it the sole focus of their news.

How about a littel fast and furious today? That is a much bigger story that this one.
Anonymous

Piers sprang into action and wiped that smirk right off her pompous face. You go, boy!
Anonymous

Piers sprang into action and wiped that smirk right off her pompous face. You go, boy!
http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

mold? as in that slimy stuff that grows hair and you try your hardest to get rid of but some how it keeps coming back? ofcourse I dont see how that is relevant to this article although may be pertinent.

I don’t care what anyone says, she wouldn’t look right showing balls unless they are hanging from her rear view mirror. she does have a nice smirk, till it’s removed, as she should be from the hearings before it looks to much like a circus side show..oops..to late.

Maybe those Bobbies can politely escort her away after she throws another pie.
http://www.facebook.com/garysamui Gary-Marie Bullock

this is total rubbish Piers Morgan is an absolutely wonderful journalist, I read and re-real all his diaries and I absolutely hero worship this guy who speaks so truthfully regardless, he speaks like I think, I just wish that I wasn’t just a step behind him but was walking in his shoes. As for his program Piers Morgan tonight on CNN wonderful,….. I just couldn’t believe that my ‘hero’ was taking over from Larry King who actually was also okay, but Piers Morgan is in a league of his own, can’t say enough good things about this guy. Maria
http://www.facebook.com/garysamui Gary-Marie Bullock

Just wish that that Louise Mensch would dare to repeat what she said in Parliament about Piers Morgan to his face and then lets see how she fares! How is this person allowed to slander Piers Morgan without any foundation beats me. You can see what a b…. she is by just looking at her face a liar comes to mind.
http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

should we really pounce on her for this..I mean, the 40ish milf who was tied into real estate in her first marrage and then marries a rock star manager..you know it’s just to easy to find fault..surely it’s not hers..she does “try” to be a writer in “chick lit” flair and Im sure she was mentally abused early on..probably just some country gurl that went to catholic schools..let’s just strike it off as that’s British Parliament for ya..
http://twitter.com/Wallycrawler Wally Crawler

If you know something about Ted Turner do it. Murdoch is a bully and a member of a secret society. You’re just a peon.
http://twitter.com/Wallycrawler Wally Crawler

It’s all over for piers and that rank’n file retread from Australia. Pull them all down that rabbit hole they made. An organization made of lies, fear mongering & blackmail.
Anonymous

It’s amazing how someone can make that conclusion without knowing someone. Journalistic standards were lowered when Matthews and Olbermaniac were allowed to participate in presidential debates. I wonder if the Dems that were the recipients of large campaign donations from Murdoch will return the “evil” money. Or will they continue to court him for the bucks similar to what Hillary did?
caconservative

Every argument Morgan put forth is exactly what our media does all the time (hacking excluded).
LibelFreeZone

This morning on CNN’s Reliable Sources: Paul McMullan, Murdoch’s News of the World reporter who broke the hacking story by being interviewed (and taped) by Hugh Grant, said that when he worked for Piers Morgan at NOTW, hacking was commonplace. McMullan disingenuously says hacking wasn’t illegal at that time. After this statement, Howard Kurtz immediately broke for a scheduled commercial.
LibelFreeZone

Anderson Cooper?! He’s a tabloid hack now, too. His “Ridiculist” is no better than any other slimy mouthpiece that denigrates people (ordinary and otherwise) while offering no opportunity for them to rebut.
LibelFreeZone

This morning on CNN’s Reliable Sources: Paul McMullan, Murdoch’s News of the World reporter who broke the hacking story by being interviewed (and taped) by Hugh Grant, said that when he worked for Piers Morgan at NOTW, hacking was commonplace. McMullan disingenuously says hacking wasn’t illegal at that time. After this statement, Howard Kurtz immediately broke for a scheduled commercial.
LibelFreeZone

Portmanteau…is that like “combination” of phone and freak = phreaking?
LibelFreeZone

This morning on CNN’s Reliable Sources: Paul McMullan, Murdoch’s News of the World reporter who broke the hacking story by being interviewed (and taped) by Hugh Grant, said that when he worked for Piers Morgan at NOTW, hacking was commonplace. McMullan disingenuously says hacking wasn’t illegal at that time. After this statement, Howard Kurtz immediately broke for a scheduled commercial.
LibelFreeZone

Oh, goody. Waiting for Morgan to explain this:

This morning on CNN’s Reliable Sources: Paul McMullan, Murdoch’s News of the World reporter who broke the hacking story by being interviewed (and taped) by Hugh Grant, said that when he worked for Piers Morgan at NOTW, hacking was commonplace. McMullan disingenuously says hacking wasn’t illegal at that time. After this statement, Howard Kurtz immediately broke for a scheduled commercial.