As the U.K. hacking scandal continues to expand to other outlets, one of the people that may be dragged into the controversy is CNN’s Piers Morgan. Morgan was editor of tabloid the Daily Mirror in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, and as we reported, it is believed that the Mirror may have relied on stories obtained by hacking at that time. So far, however, the Morgan accusations are bubbling under the surface, and no mainstream outlet has confirmed them. As a result, CNN has not mentioned their host’s potential role in the scandal.
Ad Week‘s D.M. Levine confirmed with a CNN spokesperson that the network has not mentioned the Mirror or Morgan in its coverage of the scandal.
A spokesperson confirmed as much, saying that the network hasn’t covered the matter because Morgan has not been officially called to testify in England.
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As for the hacking allegations themselves, in a statement provided to Adweek, CNN referred to an interview Morgan gave on the CBS daytime program The Talkon Monday, in which Morgan said, “The papers I edited always operated within the law.”
“Piers Morgan and his former employer, [Mirror parent company Trinity Mirror], have both addressed the allegations in recent weeks,” a CNN spokesperson said.
As we reported earlier this week, the BBC is investigating the matter, and if it does go mainstream, it will be hard for CNN to ignore. Even Fox News has expanded its coverage of the hacking scandal, which has already nixed one of the biggest acquisition deals of the year with the BskyB deal.