Piers Morgan Cleared by Ofcom, but ITV Faces Backlash for Forcing His Exit

ITV is facing a backlash for the exit of Piers Morgan after Ofcom cleared him of breaching its broadcasting code with his criticism of Meghan Markle.

Left-leaning ITV boss Carolyn McCall and other woke chiefs at the channel are under mounting pressure to explain why they tried to suppress Morgan's free speech after Meghan complained to her directly and allegedly implored her to censure her critic as they were both women and mothers.

The regulator cleared Mr. Morgan over his comments about the Duchess of Sussex, which sparked 50,000 complaints allegedly that what he said was harmful and highly offensive, following her Oprah Winfrey interview.

ITV lost hundreds of thousands of viewers and millions more in advertising revenue after Mr. Morgan quit, amid a big ratings gap between GMB and rival BBC Breakfast.

Mr. Morgan's former co-host Susannah Reed retweeted Ofcom's verdict today without comment, but others said it was very disappointing that Meghan made ITV roll over with one phone call after she made a formal complaint about the broadcast.

Mr. Morgan revealed today that Meghan wrote directly to my ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall the night before I was forced out, demanding my head on a plate.

Today, viewers told ITV to bring back Piers, urging them to see sense and do the right thing, while male online columnist Dan Wooten led criticism of the channel.

An ITV spokesman said today, “‘We welcome the Ofcom ruling that Good Morning Britain did not breach the broadcast standards relating to harm and offence.'

The ruling sets out clearly that it was the balance in context the program makers provided which was key in mitigating against the potential for harm and offence which could have been caused by Piers Morgan's comments.

But Mr. Morgan then tweeted, “‘HMM, ITV have just put out a statement saying I only won the Ofcom case against Princess Pinocchio because my colleagues expressed different opinions to mine.

That's not what the Ofcom report says in its conclusion.

I suggest ITV reads it again.”

Presenter India Willoughby added, “‘At the end of the day, Piers Morgan was right.

The fact Meghan Markup made ITV roll over with one phone call, very disappointing.'”

Toby Young, of the Free Speech Union, told TalkRadio today, “‘It would have been absolutely absurd if Ofcom had censored Piers Morgan or Good Morning Britain in any way as a result of his remarks on that program, and I'm very glad they haven't done so.'”

During the ruling, Morgan tweeted, “‘I'm delighted Ofcom has endorsed my right to disbelieve the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's incendiary claims to Oprah Winfrey, many of which have proven to be untrue.

This is a resounding victory for free speech and a resounding defeat for Princess Pinocchio's.

Do I get my job back?'”

Meghan, 40, said she was ignored when raising concerns about her mental health and alleged that racist comments had been made before the birth of her son, Archie.

After a clip aired of Meghan discussing her issues with mental health and suicidal thoughts and royal officials' knowledge of them, Mr. Morgan said during the ITV program, “‘I'm sorry, I don't believe a word she says.

I wouldn't believe her if she read me a weather report.'”

His comments were criticized by mental health charity Mind.

In July this year Ofcom published a list of the 10 most complained about TV broadcasts as part of its annual report for 2020-21, with the Good Morning Britain episode during which Morgan made his comments becoming the most complained about TV moment in the watchdog's history with 54,453 complaints.

A statement from Ofcom said, “‘This was a finely balanced decision.

Mr. Morgan's comments were potentially harmful and offensive to viewers, and we recognize the strong public reaction to them.

But we also took full account of freedom of expression.

Under our rules, broadcasters can include controversial opinions as part of legitimate debate in the public interest, and the strong challenge to Mr. Morgan from other contributors provided important context for viewers.

Nonetheless, we've reminded ITV to take greater care around content discussing mental health and suicide in future.