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Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (born 30 March 1965 in Newick , East Sussex ) is a former Editor of British Tabloid Newspaper s the '' News Of The World '' ( 1994 – 1995 ) and the '' Daily Mirror '' ( 1995 – 2004 ).1 His career has also taken in books and factual Television programmes. (He is best known in the United States as a judge on the NBC show '' America's Got Talent ''). In the UK he is editorial director of '' First News '', a national newspaper for children, and also stars in the show '' Britain's Got Talent '' alongside Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell as a judge. EARLY CAREER The youngest of four children, Piers Morgan was supposedly named after Brewery heir and privateer Motor-racing driver Piers Courage . He attended Chailey School , a Comprehensive Secondary School in Chailey , near Lewes , East Sussex . Morgan studied Journalism at Harlow College . After a brief career at Lloyds Of London , he joined the Surrey And South London Newspaper Group , where he worked as a Reporter on the '' South London Press ''. Morgan was recruited (he says Headhunted by editor Kelvin MacKenzie ) to join '' The Sun '' newspaper, specifically to work on the ''Bizarre'' column. CAREER IN NEWSPAPERS Morgan's first major position in national media was as 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'' by Rupert Murdoch , becoming the youngest national newspaper editor for more than half a century. He quickly gained notoriety for his invasive style and lack of concern for Celebrities' right to privacy, claiming that they could not manipulate the media to further their own ends without accepting the consequences of a two way deal. Morgan left this post shortly after publishing photographs of Catherine Victoria Lockwood, then wife of Charles, 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'' states that he left the ''News of the World'' 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 Suzy Jagger wrote a story in '' The Daily Telegraph '' revealing that he had bought £20,000 worth of shares in computer company Viglen soon before the Mirror's 'City Slickers' column tipped Viglen as a good buy.2 He was found to have breached the Code of Conduct on financial journalism by the Press Complaints Commission, but Morgan kept his job. The view was expressed in "media" columns that Morgan had support in the boardroom, where his qualities as a successful editor were seen to outweigh any suggestions that he might be lacking in personal integrity. The City Slickers columnists Anil Bhoyrul and James Hipwell , were both found to have committed more breaches of the Code, 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.3 On 7 December , 2005 Bhoyrul and Hipwell were convicted of conspiracy to breach the Financial Services Act. During the trial it emerged that Morgan had in fact bought £67,000 worth of Viglen shares, emptying his bank account and investing under his wife's name too.http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1648547,00.html 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 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 ''. He was fired from the ''Daily Mirror'' on 14 May , 2004 after authorising the newspaper's publication of what were faked photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused by British Army personnel. The ''Daily Mirror'' countered that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and apologised for their publication." Later, Morgan also had a monthly interview column in GQ Magazine . |
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