CNN host in crisis after allegations of participation in phone hacking surface
Piers Morgan, best known to many in the States as a CNN mainstay, is undoubtedly already engaged in furious crisis management behind the scenes as a result of charges he was involved in phone hacking during his time as editor for the UK’s Daily Mirror.
Morgan, who insisted to reporters in 2011 he has “never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, or published any stories based on the hacking of a phone” was recently questioned by police regarding alleged hacking at the Mirror, and from the picture BreitBart.com’s Alex Wickham lays out, they’ll be speaking again soon:
Regarding a story about Paul McCartney and Heather Mills the Mirror ran while he was editor, Morgan admitted, “At one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone.” When asked under oath during the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics how his paper had obtained the message, he refused to answer.
In his 2009 diaries Morgan described how he broke the story of an affair involving England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson: “It was the Daily Mirror, under my editorship, which exposed Sven’s fling with Ulrika Jonsson after learning of a similar message left by the then England manager on her phone.” And it was in his diaries that Morgan confessed his knowledge of how to hack phones: “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 all your messages.”
Writing in GQ magazine, Morgan again explained the method and played down the the consequences: “Reporters could ring your mobile, tap in a standard factory setting number and hear your messages. That is not, to me, as serious as planting a bug in someone’s house.”
That’s an awful lot of knowledge of, and material gleaned through, phone hacking, for someone who was “never” involved in any of that sort of behavior.
Not only could this situation put a quick end to Piers’ CNN career, but he could also very well face jail time if prosecuted and found guilty. Because of the type of situation, and risk of pending litigation we expect the crisis management out of Piers’ camp to be heavy on the legal side, rather than taking things to the court of public opinion.
Of course, CNN has to be doing some crisis management planning of its own right now, most likely considering whether the negative attention is enough to cut Piers lop\ose now and, if not, how they’ll replace him should it become necessary.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com