Should Piers Morgan be put in jail for treason?

Well what do you all think? For those of you who don't know, Piers Morgan is (or rather was) the editor of the Mirror, and the man behind the publishing of the pictures of British troops 'torturing' Iraqis.

The photos have since been found to be fakes, and Piers Morgan has been fired. Has he endangered the lives of British troops? Should he be punished? Or in an era of 'free' press, did he do the right thing in publishing the photos even if their authenticity was not known?

Reply 1

Lawz-

14

Tednol

Well what do you all think? For those of you who don't know, Piers Morgan is (or rather was) the editor of the Mirror, and the man behind the publishing of the pictures of British troops 'torturing' Iraqis.

The photos have since been found to be fakes, and Piers Morgan has been fired. Has he endangered the lives of British troops? Should he be punished? Or in an era of 'free' press, did he do the right thing in publishing the photos even if their authenticity was not known?

It wasn't deliberate I don't think. Although the soldiers who forged them might be guilty of it ...

He however did NOT do the right thing - I think there was CLEAR prima facie doubt about the authenticity of the photos... He shoudl have taken the time, rather than publishing it when they did, so as to coincide with the US photos, and make a buck... It was greed and stupidity that led them to publish the photos, NOT treason

Reply 2

happysunshine

8

Tednol

Well what do you all think? For those of you who don't know, Piers Morgan is (or rather was) the editor of the Mirror, and the man behind the publishing of the pictures of British troops 'torturing' Iraqis.

The photos have since been found to be fakes, and Piers Morgan has been fired. Has he endangered the lives of British troops? Should he be punished? Or in an era of 'free' press, did he do the right thing in publishing the photos even if their authenticity was not known?

Yes! He's been fired. The man I hate, I even made a hate thread on him. :biggrin:

Reply 3

LongGone

18

He's an idiot, but I think treason is over-reacting a bit.
Surely you can't expect tabloid editors to act in a sensible manner or actually think about the consequences of what they publish?

Reply 4

ThornsnRoses

11

NO...he didnt know the photos were fake, infact no one said they were fake, they just said they werent taken in Iraq. The purpose of the photos were to get a serious message across and they did effectively. The government is doing a good job of diverting the real issue, and doing focussing on something trivial.

Reply 5

llama boy

7

I don't agree with the notion of treason in much the same way that I don't agree with the notion of patriotism. I feel no more affinity with British troops than with the troops of any other nation.

It was certainly a bad decision by Morgan, though in terms of endangering lives it is absolutely trivial when compared to, for example, the actions of The Sun in the last year or so.

Reply 6

Tednol

OP

10

ThornsnRoses

NO...he didnt know the photos were fake, infact no one said they were fake, they just said they werent taken in Iraq. The purpose of the photos were to get a serious message across and they did effectively. The government is doing a good job of diverting the real issue, and doing focussing on something trivial.

Umm well the photos were allegedly of British troops abusing an Iraqi prisoner. Where else would that of taken place other than in Iraq?

The purpose of the photos is irrelevent are they not? They were lies.

What is the real issue?

Reply 7

Lawz-

14

ThornsnRoses

NO...he didnt know the photos were fake, infact no one said they were fake, they just said they werent taken in Iraq. The purpose of the photos were to get a serious message across and they did effectively. The government is doing a good job of diverting the real issue, and doing focussing on something trivial.

Thats ridiculous - they WERE FAKE if they werent in Iraq - They cant be authentic if taken elsewhere.

Also you can't publish photos claiming they are real to "make a point" - you can't fabricate evidence ... its risible to claim that its irrelevant where they were taken.

Also I hardly think the government is behind much of the pressure on the Mirror - the BBC and other news organisations are doing quite a good job of reporting the matter, and are choosing to focus on it.

Also - if you were a member of that regiment I dont think you would call those lies trivial.

Reply 8

LongGone

18

Since they've decided that the photos are fake, have they actually figured out who did take them, and what they were playing at exactly?

Reply 9

Lawz-

14

Frances

Since they've decided that the photos are fake, have they actually figured out who did take them, and what they were playing at exactly?

There is, as I understand it, an investigation into it

Reply 10

ruffian

definitely not treason, his sacking was enough, it would be wrong to imprison someone for that when you still have people like abu hamza who are blatently
against this country and encourage to kill british. what hes done may indirectly cause death of soldiers but its nothing compared to what captain hook does

Reply 11

Dr. Blazed

16

He should be shot. No matter whether we now make a song and dance about the falsehood of the photos, no one in the Middle East'll care. The damage is done.

Reply 12

Bigcnee

11

Although the man is a complete moron, and when morons are put in high places, then danger can result; I don't think that you could justify putting him in prison. The people who produced the photos, however, should be put in prison.

Reply 13

material breach

12

hang him i say

Reply 14

Bigcnee

11

Let's not forget that the red cross did express concern over UK forces treatment of Iraqis. They described it as "ill-treatment, tantamount to torture".

Reply 15

nayeem18

" It was greed and stupidity that led them to publish the photos, NOT treason " - I am confused . Piers Morgan walked out with a smile in his face that made me think he's pretty sure of himself . Why should he publish photos to destroy the image of his own race's troops ? Is it because of a high sales revenue and great circulation for two weeks ? ( greed ) He's an adult . Of course , I guess everybody is right about saying that this is " totally unacceptable " that he published " fake pictures " and harmed the honour of one of the impeccable armies of the world but is it wrong to portray a series of events and correctly depict a situation to people who had actually no idea about the realities of occupation ? What does it have to do with destroying the image of the Lancashire regiment ? As far as I know , those two soldiers , A and B gave interviews of which partly were shown in skynews yesterday and the kicking , hitting and sandbags on heads are true . It's good , if there were no pictures published and only one or two gentle articles were published instead , the impact wouldn't have been one of shocks and the effect of the shock wouldn't have been a thorough investigation . I live in a country which was once occupied by an invading army and that invading army captured anybody they liked and did things worse than the brits . That army also wanted to break the root of confidence and pride of my race and tortured civillians . Things could hav been betta . Unfortunately , those civillians finally started kicking back and i'm lucky to be free today . Iraq as a country in the international arena represents the world of pre-prophets . American and British soldiers receive utmost honour when they die as their bodies are kept in coffins and carried offf the plane with honour . When it happened to the iraqi civillians , the casualities of war , when the 19/20 year old girl got kicked by boots and thought that she was
" lucky " , they were seen as sacrifices to achieve a bigger benifit .

Reply 16

rednirt

Do we still charge people with treason nowadays? With England being so fractious and with everyone having such different loyalties would a jury find him guilty?

Reply 17

ThornsnRoses

11

Lawzzzzzz

Also you can't publish photos claiming they are real to "make a point" - you can't fabricate evidence ... its risible to claim that its irrelevant where they were taken.

Also I hardly think the government is behind much of the pressure on the Mirror - the BBC and other news organisations are doing quite a good job of reporting the matter, and are choosing to focus on it.

He didnt publish the pictures with the intention fabricating a story. They published a story and two soldier had confirmed that theu saw such things happen in Iraq. Its not like they dreamed up the situation. Whether or not they were taken in Iraq...they highlighted a serious matter. And that is abuse being done by British soldiers.

Hello...the BBC is a governmental channel.

Reply 18

hattori

ThornsnRoses

NO...he didnt know the photos were fake, infact no one said they were fake, they just said they werent taken in Iraq. The purpose of the photos were to get a serious message across and they did effectively. The government is doing a good job of diverting the real issue, and doing focussing on something trivial.

"Infact no one said they were fake, they just said they werent taken in Iraq"...OK...that kind of implies they are fake since they are supposedly of Iraqi prisoners being transported but the wagon that they are in is parked in England somewhere. You sounding like Piers Morgan...you know just WISHING it was all true.

Anyways...I think its more to do with him not caring if the pictures were fake. The pics suited the Mirror's agenda so he ran with it. Not even stopping to check if the photos were real. Then he comes up with some crap about the photos "illustrating" a point, what a joker, someone should tell him to stop digging. He could have printed what the Red Cross report had said about the situation in Iraq but then again I don't think he's the type to let the truth get in the way of a good story and tons of cash.

If he gets away with this then papers can just make up bullshit and say it "illustrates" a wider truth. To me that just isn't right.

btw the government doesn't have to do anything to divert from the issue because the Mirror is doing such a good job.

Reply 19

an Siarach

15

He(and the Mirror)should be liable for any deaths or injury caused by the escalation of violence resulting from the lies he chose to publish.

Should Piers Morgan be put in jail for treason?

Related discussions

Articles for you