Former CNN Legend Larry King: CNN is ‘Not a News Network’

In 2016 they all covered Trump religiously so yes they are all complicit.

What the hell are they supposed to do, just ignore the President of the United States? I stopped watching cable news religiously because I’m tired of the Trump coverage, but I can’t blame them for doing their job.

LK is still alive?

He said what his Russian overlords commanded him to say, what else is new?

R2, it's not their job to act as a megaphone for the President.

Trump saying something false/stupid isn't news in and of itself. Darting their eyes around every time he shouts "SQUIRREL!" isn't journalism. Especially when they do little to no substantive coverage of what is actually happening under his Administration.

R2, not everything he does or says is newsworthy. His blatant lies and misinformation do not need to be repeated hundreds of times by the news media; it gives them validity. Stop making his lies into newsworthy content; shut them down and move on to real information.

R2 there are plenty of subjects for them to talk about. Pretty lazy to wait every day for trump to tweet something at 3 am and the talk about how outraged they are by it. And then have a panel analyze it. And then get some Rs and Ds to talk about it. Then former actors talk about it. The have the evening news talk about it. Then have the next show have another special panel of journalists talk about it. Then have more news people talk about it. Then next day say nothing about it but start all over with the same shit that they did the day before but now be outraged about something else he lied about, tweeted about. They need to find their own stories to analyze and bitch about. It’s a big world out there, there have to be at least 1 or 2 things they could talk about besides trump. But then again, if they would have done that he would not be president right now.

Damn, R2, how old are you--twelve?

I was 8-10 during the Watergate years. No cable back then. The networks had one 30-minute broadcast daily, with 1 or 2 two-minute news briefs during game show/soap opera blocks. THIRTY MINUTES. Once a day. And did they cover NixonHaldemanDeanErlichmanMagrude nonstop for twenty-five of those minutes every fucking day, with two minutes for Howard Baker or Sam Ervin, and three for commercials?

NO. The networks (back when network news divisions blessedly were formally separated from their entertainment divisions) devoted huge amounts of time and resources to labor issues, poverty issues, race, civil rights, women's rights, health and education, regional issues, crime, and a shit-ton on the environment. News was well-rounded and hugely informative, except for gay and lesbian issues. And our newspapers were the same.

You, R2, and your ilk are the reason we cannot have decent network news coverage. And there is no fucking excuse for it except laziness and that poisonous incestuous bubble created by the politician-staffer-lobbyist-NGO-Cabinet member-pundit-reporter pipeline.

R8, R2 and HIS NAME are part of the problem.

[quote]LK is still alive?

Does he know?

One of the problems is that the current "news" talkers are part of the same groups of people they report on. Go to the same parties, kids go to the same schools, live in the same areas, come from the same schools, more well off.

The old time reporters were not of the same social class as those they reported on which made their reporting more honest.

He's right. CNN shows trump just as much as FOX, but without as much spin. I stopped watching CNN because they showed his rallies and all of that other nonsense live 24/7. Also, its hosts like Chris Cuomo lob softball questions to Republican guests who they could easily challenge with facts.

[quote]The networks (back when network news divisions blessedly were formally separated from their entertainment divisions) devoted huge amounts of time and resources to labor issues, poverty issues, race, civil rights, women's rights, health and education, regional issues, crime, and a shit-ton on the environment. News was well-rounded and hugely informative, except for gay and lesbian issues. And our newspapers were the same.

I was a kid in the 1960s and I can tell you the above quote is all true.

Right now...right this very minute, if you tune into FOX, CNN, MSNBC etc...they're in the middle of a conversation about Trump. And that's mostly all it is...all day long.

Someone should really try and count the number of times his name is said on each news network during a 24 hour period.

I hate Larry King and wish he would shut up and die, but he does have a point. The cable news networks, the NY Times and the Washington Post have become 100% obsessed with Trump. It's not that they shouldn't be investigating and exposing Trump's misdeeds and missteps. Of course they should. But it seems that's the only thing they want to do. While they're putting all of their resources into covering Trump non-stop, there may be corruption at other levels of government that is being ignored. Foreign correspondents complain that their job is becoming extinct. Nobody wants international news anymore unless the story is told from the perspective of how it relates to Trump. If you want any kind of issue coverage at all (education, health, science, the environment, civil rights, etc.) from the American news media, you're pretty much limited to PBS and NPR. On the cable networks, it's the same 9 or 10 pundits saying the same things about Trump day after day.

Nothing Ted Turner founded has been the same since he sold them.

I've tuned out of most mainstream news because it's just Trump outrage. The only one who does a good investigative job is Rachel. We need more of her.

This is one of the reasons he won. Instigated by the Democratic "Pied Piper" strategy with the cynical plan to drive out the more mainstream Republican candidates.

Not a tin hat theory. Look at their emails.

Ask yourself why the media who did spend so much time covering Trump did so at the bidding of the Democrats.

Disgusting.

Larrry King is 100% right. CNN is the Trump network. Once in a while they cover another story like a mass shooting. But only for about 2-3 days then it's back to Trump tweets, farts, takes a dump etc. It's unbearable. It's not news anymore.

"While they're putting all of their resources into covering Trump non-stop,"

So you don't think covering the antics of crazy ass lunatic Trump posing as POTUS, the most powerful person on earth, and his completely corrupt and immoral cabinet, is headline news worthy? WTF?

What exactly should be covered instead? The Kardashians?

They're not actually covering his "antics" R19, or his corrupt appointees. They're obsessing over stupid shit he says and IGNORING the substance of what his administration is actually doing.

[quote] So you don't think covering the antics of crazy ass lunatic Trump posing as POTUS, the most powerful person on earth, and his completely corrupt and immoral cabinet, is headline news worthy? WTF?

If you had read my post, you would have realized that I never said anything of the sort.

[quote] What exactly should be covered instead? The Kardashians?

Jesus. I don't know how you could possibly have read my post and come away with the idea that I was suggesting more coverage of the Kardashians. Let me repeat what I said above: If you want any kind of issue coverage at all (education, health, science, the environment, civil rights, etc.) from the American news media, you're pretty much limited to PBS and NPR. On the cable networks, it's the same 9 or 10 pundits saying the same things about Trump day after day.

R8 is positively right.

R2- No, they don't have to ignore Trump, but CNN really isn't doing their job--CNN seems to want to appear to be "fair", so instead of having journalists and experts discuss Trump's latest tirade, they have one of Trump's supporters on to "balance" out the discussion.

Then the CNN host will ask a question, both people - the supporter and "non-supporter" will answer - but CNN never follows up on whatever ridiculous answer the supporter gives.

They seem to want it to be more of an entertainment show than a hard hitting news show. I noticed when they ran ads for the CNN coverage of mid terms election night, the ad sounded like an ad for WWF wrestling.

R19 headline newsworthy? Maybe, even though anything he says or does get a pass from everyone so why waste the time. Last night I watched cnn in the background for a couple hours. They had people talking about how guilanie is making it bad for him. What questions they don’t like, bitching about how the questions were supposed to be answered last January and had panel after panel talke about what some of the questions are and what they could mean. Who the fuck cares? Us, yes. Republicans and democrats? Apparently not enough to do a fucking thing about it. Did they mention anything about global warming and have scientists talking about it? Not a peep. Any planned parenthood people and democrats talking about it? Of course not. Anybody mention healthcare for all or none? Nada. These things are controlled by their corporate overlords and not to be discussed. That might cut into profits. If I vote for Bernie I’m throwing away my vote? No, voting for democrats that tow the corporate line is throwing your democracy away.