Piers Morgan

Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (born March 30, 1965 in Newick, East Sussex) was editor of The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper, from 1995 until 2004. He has also pursued careers in writing and television.

Career in newspapers

Morgan's first major position in national media was as copy editor of The Sun's show business column, Bizarre, under the editorship of Kelvin MacKenzie. In 1994, aged 28, he was appointed editor of the News of the World (NotW) by Rupert Murdoch, becoming the youngest national newspaper editor for more than 50 years. He quickly gained notoriety for his invasive style and lack of concern for celebrities' right to privacy, claiming that they could not simultaneously manipulate the media to further their own ends without accepting the consquences of a two way deal.

Morgan was fired from this post shortly after publishing photographs of Victoria, Countess Spencer, then wife of the Charles Spencer, The Earl Spencer leaving a detoxification clinic. This action ran against the editors' code of conduct, a misdemeanour for which the Press Complaints Commission took Morgan to task. Murdoch was reported as having said publicly that "the boy went too far". Morgan's autobiography The Insider indicates that he left the NotW of his own choice and somewhat against owner Rupert Murdoch's wishes when he was offered the job of Editor at the Daily Mirror.

As editor of the Daily Mirror, Morgan was widely criticised in 1996 for the headline "Achtung Surrender" a day before England met Germany in a semi-final of the Euro '96 football championships. The story was written by Justin Dunn.

In 2000 he was the subject of an investigation after it was revealed that the had bought £67,000 worth of shares in computer company Viglen soon before the Mirror's 'City Slickers' column tipped Viglen as a good buy. He was found to have breached the code of conduct on financial journalism by the Press Complaints Commission, but Morgan kept his job. The City Slickers columnists Anil Bhoyrul and James Hipwell, were both found to have committed more breaches, and were sacked before the inquiry. In 2004, further enquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry resulted in the DTI saying that Morgan would not face charges. On 7 December 2005 Bhoyrul and Hipwell were convicted of conspiracy to breach the Financial Services Act.

In 2002 the Daily Mirror attempted to move midmarket, claiming to eschew the more trivial stories of show-business and gossip. Morgan rehired John Pilger, who had been sacked nearly twenty years earlier during Robert Maxwell's ownership of the Mirror titles. Despite such changes, Morgan was unable to halt the paper's decline in circulation, a decline shared by its direct rivals The Sun and the Daily Star. At the British Press Awards in March 2004, he was punched by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson after the Mirror had published compromising photos of Clarkson.

He was fired from The Daily Mirror on 14 May 2004 after authorising the newspaper's publication of what transpired to be faked photographs of Iraqi prisoner being abused by British Army personnel. The Daily Mirror countered that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and apologised for the publication. By this juncture, Morgan also had a monthly interview column in GQ magazine.

In May 2005, in partnership with Matthew Freud, he gained ownership of the Press Gazette, a media trade publication together with its 'cash cow' the British Press Awards, in a deal worth £1 million. This ownership is cited as one of the reasons many major newspapers have boycotted the 2006 awards.

On May 4 2006, Morgan launched First News, a weekly paper aimed at 9-12 year olds. Morgan is editorial director at First News, responsible for bringing in celebrity involvement. He referred to the role as "editorial overlord and frontman", .

Career in television

Morgan's career has diversified in recent years in to television presentation and proprietorship. In 2003 he presented a three part television documentary series for the BBC titled The Importance of Being Famous, about fame and the manner in which celebrities are covered by modern media.

He has co-hosted his own current affairs interview show on Channel 4, with Amanda Platell called Morgan & Platell. The show was dropped after three series allegedly because of poor ratings, though the chairman of Channel 4 Luke Johnson was reported not to like the programme.

Morgan was reported in December 2005 to be developing a new series You're Fired and to be a panelist in a forthcoming talent show for ITV1 based on the US series The Gong Show. It was reported in the Evening Standard on 21 February 2006 that Morgan was 'in talks' with ITV to take over Paul O'Grady's chat show, following a successful pilot.

Morgan currently appears as a judge on the American television show America's Got Talent along with Brandy and David Hasselhoff on NBC.

Piers Morgan and Ian Hislop

Morgan appeared as a guest on Have I Got News for You in 1996 during which he and Ian Hislop failed to keep their mutual contempt off-screen. Hislop directly accused Morgan of having him (Hislop) followed and his house watched. The conflict escalated from there and at one point Angus Deayton asked if they wished to go outside and have a fight. By the end of the programme Morgan claimed Hislop would be "getting new neighbours", insinuating photographers would be sent by him. Piers' guest spot became one of HIGNFY's most famous incidents. On the news of his sacking, the show repeated the clip.

Private Eye, of which Hislop is editor, routinely refers to Morgan as "Piers Moron" (or, in a twist on the common practice of inserting a nickname in inverted commas between first name and surname, as 'Piers "Morgan" Moron'). The magazine had originally referred to him as Piers 'Boy' Morgan, based on Rupert Murdoch's reference to him as 'the boy' after his NofW departure. During his time at the Mirror, Morgan frequently threatened to publish damaging stories about Hislop, and while they never appeared, Piers has staged numerous petty attacks on Hislop such as gate-crashing a book signing with 'protestors' proclaiming 'Gnome Go Home'.

Private Eye has also mocked Morgan for his relationship with Marina Hyde, now a columnist on The Guardian, not least because both parties were at the time married to other people. Their involvement became known via leaked amorous emails while Hyde was working for The Sun and Morgan the Mirror. Hyde subsequently returned to her husband.

Morgan took up with The Daily Telegraph gossip columnist Celia Walden, the tall daughter of ex-Tory MP George.

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