UK’s Piers Morgan joins Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News in global deal – Reuters

Journalist and television presenter Piers Morgan smiles as he walks near his house, after he left his high-profile breakfast slot with the broadcaster ITV, following his long-running criticism of Prince Harry’s wife Meghan, in London, Britain, March 10, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Piers Morgan, the outspoken British journalist and broadcaster, has joined Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSA.O) and Fox News Media in a global deal that includes anew TV show in early 2022, newspaper columns and a book deal.

Murdoch said in a statement on Thursday Morgan was “the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire”.

“Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling,” he said.

The 56-year-old’s TV show will air on weeknights on FOX Nation in the United States, Sky News Australia and on talkTV, a new British channel that will launch early next year. read more

The channel will debut less than a year after GB News launched in June, aimed at challenging what it casts as the London-centred consensus of the British media. It has since struggled to secure large audiences.

Morgan will also join Murdoch’s tabloids The Sun and the New York Post as a columnist, the company said on Thursday, and HarperCollins UK will publish his next book.

Morgan, who previously edited Murdoch’s defunct News of the World tabloid and hosted a show on CNN, resigned from British broadcaster ITV’s breakfast show after he said in March he did not believe comments made by Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, in an Oprah Winfrey interview.

More than 50,000 people complained about his comments, but Britain’s media regulator ruled that ITV did not break the broadcasting code on the grounds that Morgan was challenged by other presenters.

Morgan said he was thrilled to be returning to News Corp, where he began his media career more than 30 years ago.

“Rupert Murdoch has been a constant and fearless champion of free speech and we are going to be building something new and very exciting together,” he said.

“I’m going home and we’re going to have some fun.”

Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young, Michael Holden and Steve Orlofsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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