MORGAN MAY LAND FIRST INTERVIEW WITH CASEY ANTHONY

CNN host Piers Morgan, who has been floundering in the ratings, seems on the verge of landing one of the biggest “gets” eluding TV news personalities thus far — Casey Anthony, who was found not guilty last July of killing her two-year-old daughter Caylee. Morgan on Tuesday spoke with Anthony on the telephone but did not air a recording. Instead he relayed her comments, in which she admitted not being truthful in her original interviews with authorities — “I didn’t trust law enforcement because of my relationship with my father, who is ex-law enforcement” — but continued to maintain her innocence — “If anything in this world I was more proud of was my daughter. She was my greatest accomplishment. I didn’t kill my girl.” CNN maintained that it did not pay for the interview, and in a separate interview with Morgan, Anthony’s attorney, Cheney Mason, indicated that Anthony wants to tell her side of the story. “We are sitting back watching,” he told Morgan. “When the time comes she will have her story to tell.” Meanwhile, CNN announced today (Wednesda) that it is canceling John King’s 6:00 p.m. show and extending The Situation Room to three hours. The move comes following a plunge in the cable news network’s ratings — to the worst level in 20 years and signals from the network that it is about to make major changes. However, CNN U.S. President Ken Jautz characterized the change as an effort “to bolster our political coverage heading into the stretch of the 2012 campaign.” King, he said, will now become CNN’s lead campaign correspondent.