CNN Legend Calls Jim Acosta Childish, Slams Network

CNN legend Larry King said that the network has stopped covering the news, slamming the network’s White House reporter Jim Acosta, joining the group who says that Acosta’s actions resemble those of an activist more than a reporter.

Larry King hosted “Larry King Live” on CNN for 25 years. He started working in radio and television in 1957.

Speaking in an online program for Law & Crime Network on Nov. 15, he said that CNN, Fox, and MSNBC are all slanted and have devolved considerably.

“They’re not news networks,” he said. “They do pundits“ on CNN, he said. ”A typical CNN show is eight guests—he has an opinion, he has an opinion, he has an opinion…. They stopped doing news.”

“A news organization leads the news, it doesn’t follow,” King added later, reported Mediaite.

A White House staff member steps in to try to take the microphone away from CNN’s Jim Acosta as he questions U.S. President Donald Trump during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Nov. 7, 2018. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Acosta Was ‘Childish’

The legendary television host was asked about Acosta, who told Trump that he was wrong to call the thousands of migrants heading to the United States, the bulk of which are fighting age males, “an invasion.”

Acosta later claimed that the migrants would not be climbing over the border barriers separating the United States and Mexico, slamming Trump for including footage of the migrants doing just that at the border separating Guatemala and Mexico, forcing their way into the country in clashes that left police officers injured.

Larry King participates in a discussion during the Starmus Festival on June 21, 2017 in Trondheim, Norway. (Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

After Trump responded three times to Acosta’s rambling statements, Acosta refused to give up the microphone and touched a female White House intern who tried to take the mic. Both he and CNN lied in saying that Acosta didn’t touch her.

King said during the Thursday broadcast: “Jim was a little out of line. I wouldn’t have gone that far. [Trump] answered one or two questions then he didn’t want to answer anymore.“Referring to the fact that Trump had called on another reporter and Acosta’s stubborn display delayed that reporter’s question, King added: ”You got a room full of people all of whom have the right to ask questions.”

“It was childish. My question is, what is the role of the journalist? Should they become the star of the story?” he said about Acosta’s actions. “At a Trump press conference, Trump is the star. You try to learn as much as you can from him. But you’re not bigger than him. It isn’t about you. It’s about him.”

The comments come after CNN was criticized by founder Ted Turner and longtime journalist Ted Koppel.

From NTD News