Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan is reportedly demanding £1 million compensation from the paper after being sacked for publishing hoax pictures allegedly showing British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners.
Morgan’s nine year reign at the tabloid came to an end on Friday after the Queen’s Lancashire regiment proved that pictures depicting its soldiers torturing Iraqi captives were staged and demanded an apology from the paper.
It is understood that shareholders in the Daily Mirror’s parent company, Trinity Mirror, made Morgan’s position untenable after making it clear to chief executive, Sly Bailey, that action needed to be taken. The share price half way through the first trading day since Morgan was sacked was down 10.5 points to 604.5.
The Daily Mirror said in a statement that it would be inappropriate for Morgan to continue in his role as editor. It issued an unreserved apology for publishing the pictures and announced that it deeply regrets the damage done to the army in Iraq.
The newspaper said: “The Daily Mirror published in good faith photographs which it absolutely believed were genuine images of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi prisoner. However, there is now sufficient evidence to suggest that these pictures are fakes and that the Daily Mirror has been the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax.”
According to a report in the Sunday Times, Morgan expects his two-year rolling contract with the paper to be honoured. He is understood to have been on a £350,000 salary, but his total package was worth almost £500,000.
Morgan is the latest scalp from the British media to be claimed by the war in Iraq, after the resignation of the chairman and director general of the BBC in the wake of controversial findings of the Hutton report.
During his time at the Daily Mirror, Morgan implemented an extensive redesign of the paper, which saw it drop its red-top masthead and move towards a more serious news agenda. However, Sly Bailey has attempted to edge the title back to its tabloid roots since joining Trinity Mirror back in 2002.
The latest monthly ABC results show that the Daily Mirror saw its circulation decline by 10.5% year on year during April to 1,888,145. The paper has seen sales slow gradually over the last ten years.
Daily Mirror deputy editor Des Kelly has been appointed by Trinity Mirror executives to run the flagship tabloid on an interim basis. However, Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver is being widely tipped to take-over from Morgan on permanent basis.
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