Piers Morgan

created by JoeBaldwin

(person) by JoeBaldwin (1.2 y) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Sat May 15 2004 at 14:33:43

Former editor of British tabloid newspaper the Mirror, from 1995 to May 14th 2004.

Morgan was responsible for huge changes in the format of the paper. He believed that people could take hard facts and news, and tried to drive the paper upmarket, replacing the Sun-esque red logo with a black one and adding more coverage of political and world affairs over soaps and entertainment. Indeed, The Mirror was renowned for its vehement opposition to President Bush and the War on Terror/War in Iraq during Morgan's period, possibly only slightly less anti-war than Communist tabloid the Morning Star. This batch of changes were also brought about by Morgan's intense hatred of celebrities who wished to occupy the oxymoronic position of being able to conduct publicity stunts and gain notoriety, while also wishing to have privacy relating to the less positive aspects of their lives (the Mirror eventually lost a court battle with Naomi Campbell, after they published photos of her coming out of a drug rehab clinic; they stated the above belief in their defence). However, during this period the Mirror's circulation dropped dramatically.

Those photos

In early May 2004, Morgan purchased and subsequently published photos, supposed to depict abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British troops. They showed Queen's Lancashire Regiment soldiers supposedly urinating on an Iraqi captive with a bag over his head.

There was immediately an outcry, and the pictures almost certainly led to British and American soldiers being killed in revenge. The QLR late pointed out a series of flaws in the photographs, categorically proving that the photos could not have been taken in Iraq: for instance, a shirt that the Iraqi prisoner was wearing was in pristine condition, and the truck that the photos were supposedly taken in had not even been in Iraq, ever. After intense pressure from all circles (including anti-war protestors, including me) the Mirror Group sacked Morgan as editor of the Daily Mirror on the 14th May 2004 (he did not resign, as CNN are reporting). It is widely recognised that Morgan's actions were totally reckless and irresponsible, and probably led to retaliations and loss of life.

After Morgan's sacking, The Mirror published an apology to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment on the front page, which was accepted.

BBC News Story on the Apology: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3716613.stm

/me bows to whoever softlinked scum.

printable version
chaos

scum	From Baghdad, with Britney Spears and Toby Keith, it's the Iraq War Halftime Show!	United States pledge to avoid torture	Daily Mirror
Morning Star	Private Eye	Abu Ghraib Prison abuse scandal	Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War
Charles Kennedy	British newspapers	Moron Boy	Piers Anthony
the Mirror	The Iceman	BBC	Ian Hislop
tabloid	apology	CNN	gotcha
Piers Plowman

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