Our free and fearless press has scored reams of cheap copy from the story of Amanda Knox, falsely accused of murdering her flat-mate Meredith Kercher in 2007, and incarcerated in an Italian prison for four years as a result. She was finally and definitively acquitted of the murder in 2015. Much of the UK press coverage of her has been negative to the point of prejudicing opinion. And it hasn’t finished yet.
Ms Knox and her family were left insolvent from the years of supporting her in Italy - including her legal bills - and she has taken up journalism as a way of getting back on her feet. She is also an activist for those wrongfully accused. This, though, is of no interest to former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, who has attempted to intervene in her life in his usual brash and clumsy style - as in no style at all.
Amanda Knox
Morgan has already, effectively, condemned Ms Knox as guilty of a murder she did not, and most probably could not, commit. One look through the Twitter detritus tells you all you need to know: after “Amanda Knox found GUILTY of murdering Meredith Kercher, by Italian court” and “Amanda Knox sentenced to 28 years in prison - increase on previous sentence” comes the armchair detective meeting his own judge and jury.
“I don't believe Amanda Knox”. Why not, O wise one? “Gut feeling Amanda Knox knows more than she's saying”. There was doubt over her alibi? “Like I said a few days ago, I don't believe Amanda Knox”. Add to that Morgan’s inimitable “interviewing” style, as in no style at all bar a propensity to pre-judge and shout down his targets.
Then add in his latest pronouncement: “Out of respect for Meredith Kercher's poor family, Amanda Knox should stop her self-pitying 'all about me' victim tour - and shut up”. What is behind his jaundiced attitude? Ah well. Ms Knox has revealed all. “Says the guy who's begged me to be on his show multiple times, and I've turned him down every time”.
You turn down Piers Morgan’s “invitation”, which in reality is an offer to turn up so he can indulge in grandstanding for the benefit of Himself Personally Now, he gets bitter and spiteful, as he did with Ewan McGregor. So expect him to continue attacking Ms Knox in his Mail Online column. Because she won’t assist in his self-aggrandisement.
The court of public opinion, meanwhile, has already reached its verdict on Morgan’s attempt to manipulate someone traumatised by knowing a friend has been murdered and then getting framed for it. As one Tweeter observed, “He doesn’t get to the truth. He kicks up a fuss to make sure everyone knows that everything is about him. He’s cruel and vindictive and it’s poor interviewing”. And as to Ms Knox’s put-down, yes, well.
“Boooom get the Aloe Vera out @piersmorgan you’ve been burned”. And that’s before all those questions that won’t go away about how the Daily Mirror under Morgan was hacking phones on an industrial scale, but its editor somehow never noticed.
Amanda Knox was right to turn him down. And it’s Piers Morgan who should shut up.
Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at
3 comments:
"Style" isn't a word I apply to Morgan.
"Narcissistic media thug" is much more appropriate.
The Knox/Kercher stories (plural) would make an excellent subject for a Ph.D. thesis in the unfairly maligned discipline of media studies. Effectively, the British and American media are telling two completely different stories - ours the story of an attractive young British woman killed by evil foreigners and the Yanks' the story of an attractive young American woman framed by a dodgy third-world legal system.
Both share some common features, like simple analogies of Italian legal practice with common law systems. Thus the "giudici populari" become "the jury". The American press then gets hot and bothered because "the jury" is not sequestered and the judge is present for its deliberations.
Then there's the Kercher family's lawyer, Dr Maresca. In the British press it's pretty much "the Kerchers' lawyer - move on, nothing to see here" with no curiosity about why they have a lawyer. The American press was on it like a shot. Maresca was "l'avvocato per la parte civile" (the lawyer for the civil party). The trial was simultaneously a criminal and civil process, with Maresca representing the Kerchers in a suit for damages against Ms Knox and Sig. Sollecito.
Moron as he's known to Private Eye readers truly is a narcissist, stirring the pot to whip controversies like last week's infamous incident between Lorraine Kelly and Esther McVey..
Esther's PM weren't sunk by her own wild claims but by her time in office of persecuting sick and disabled people to boost her career.
Post a Comment