Have You Heard About Piers Morgan?

by Shaker Brunocerous

Ethically bereft celebrity toad and CNN host Piers Morgan can't seem to catch a break in the phone-hacking scandal engulfing the cesspool that is News International.

In July, British tabloid News of the World was found to have illegally hacked into the voicemail of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl who disappeared in 2002. After word got out, Rupert Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old newspaper and fired its employees.

The move didn't stop increasing scrutiny of Murdoch, however, who was called to testify before Parliament with his son about what he knew. In the meantime, police have identified a potential 4,000 Murdoch victims of voicemail hacking.

On this side of the pond, CNN's Morgan — a former editor of News of the World and the Daily Mirror, who can apparently "take a punch" — has repeatedly maintained his innocence, despite his history of bragging about getting inside information from voicemail break-ins.

The latest revelation — after Morgan's whining denials of any wrongdoing — comes from Heather Mills, according to a BBC article. In it, she recounts how a Mirror Group Newspapers employee (I can't seem to type the word "journalist" anywhere near Morgan's name) "started quoting verbatim" voicemail left for her by then-boyfriend Sir Paul McCartney.

The BBC reports:

In a 2006 article in the Daily Mail, Mr Morgan referred to having heard a recorded message which Sir Paul had left for Ms Mills.

"At one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone," he wrote.

"It was heartbreaking," Mr Morgan wrote. "The couple had clearly had a tiff, Heather had fled to India, and Paul was pleading with her to come back. He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang 'We Can Work It Out' into the answer phone."

Mills has joined a growing chorus of outraged Brits looking for the CNN host to come home and answer some questions about his role in any illicit eavesdropping.

Morgan, for his part, is doing a great job indicting himself.

"With new technology comes new temptation," he once said.

As if the case against Morgan weren't damning enough.

Disingenuously, Morgan parses his proclamations of innocence like a two-bit lawyer: "For the record, in my time at the News of the World and the Mirror, I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, or published any stories based on the hacking of a phone,” he said on CNN, which must be thrilled there is no Truth In Advertising Law in the United States.

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

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