This Might Be Scandalous If Anyone Watched CNN

Remember that massive media orgasm recently about the phone hacking involving some of Rupert Murdoch's news organizations? The feeding frenzy seems have have tempered somewhat since the climate of hate fostered by Murdoch foes resulted in his being physically attacked by some leftwing wacko while testifying before Parliament.

But while the hubbub here in the United States may have died down as we watch Barack Obama melt down over his debt mess, over in the UK it appears the scandal may be spreading to another news organization, which just happens to be the one formerly run by CNN's Piers Morgan.

Piers Morgan is facing questions on both sides of the Atlantic as a former employee claimed that phone hacking had taken place while he was editor of the Daily Mirror.

The CNN presenter has repeatedly denied allegations made in both the British and US media that he presided over a culture of illegal activity during his nine-year stint at the paper.

James Hipwell, a former Daily Mirror journalist, claimed on Saturday that phone hacking was "endemic" under Mr Morgan's editorship and that he would be prepared to testify to the judicial inquiry into the scandal.

"Piers was extremely hands-on as an editor. He was on the [newsroom] floor every day, walking up and down behind journalists, looking over their shoulders. I can't say 100 per cent that he knew about it. But it was inconceivable he didn't," he told the Independent.

Now from what we gleaned from Murdoch's testimony last week it appeared he was unaware of what was going on. From the above it sure looks like Morgan was hip-deep in the hacking.

So why isn't this big news? Well, for one, nobody watches Morgan, or CNN for that matter, so he's pretty much a non-entity here in the States. Yet it's curious how he's still on the air while when the News of the World was implicated in the hacking scandal that paper was shuttered before you could blink. Where are the howls of indignation from the Fox haters in the American media?

A spokeswoman for CNN said that Mr Morgan had been asked about the accusations and had strongly denied them.

Mr Hipwell's claims come in the wake of a New York Times article which quoted five former journalists at the People, the Mirror's Sunday sister paper, who claimed that phone hacking had take place between the late 1990s and early 2000.

The Sunday Mirror was also accused of "routinely" hacking the phones of celebrities in an effort to keep up with the News of the World.

A former employee of the paper told the BBC that the illegal technique was used on almost daily basis to hack the phones of Rio Ferdinand, Liz Hurley and others.

"One afternoon in the newsroom I saw Liz Hurley's phone being hacked and a reporter listen to her mobile phone messages and take a note of what was said.

There's some non-taxpaying outfit funded by George Soros that claims to monitor the media, but they haven't said a peep about this.