Advertisement

Opinion: Larry King is no fan of social media networks, his 1.8 million Twitter fans aside

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Despite his 1.8 million Twitter followers, Larry King is no fan of social-media networks.

The 50-year veteran of radio and TV broadcasting who is to air his last CNN show in December, said recently of his Twitter account: “My producers do it. My wife is a Twitter freak. She’s sick. But I understand it. I think the movie [“The Social Network”] about Facebook was great.’

Advertisement

Speaking at a charity event in Nevada last week reported by the Las Vegas Sun, King....

... told the audience: “I love newspapers. I like the feel of print. I like talking on the phone. I don’t text.” He said news distilled through social media was an inevitable product of technology. “It’s like owning a grocery store when AM/PM started. Or having a horse and buggy when cars came out.

“You can’t do anything about it. It’s so spread out, and I’m not sure if the journalism is better. There’s more of it, and everybody’s a journalist now. But it forges more rumors, more heresy, and everybody’s a blogger.”

Such social-media phobias don’t stop CNN from embracing Twitter. Last week, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone revealed to Wolf Blitzer that he didn’t follow many politicians on his personal feed, even though his site can with some justification claim to have influenced politics from Iran to North Korea to Russia. He does, however, follow Russian premier Dmitry Medvedev, which may be a surprise to Ticket readers.

King’s @kingthings is one of more than 500 CNN-related Twitter feeds, and he largely uses it to publicize interviews with newsmakers and celebrities.

King’s last CNN show is Dec. 16, when he’ll be 77. Former British newspaper editor Piers Morgan will take over the host’s chair. On bowing out before adopting the new technologies, King said: “You can’t fight it. Don’t bother trying, either.”

Advertisement

-- Craig Howie

You can’t click on a newspaper, but you can click here for Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot or @craighowieLAT. Our Facebook Like page is over here. Also available on Kindle now with a two-week free trial.

Advertisement