Discussion: Charles Barkley Bashes CNN On Air: Network 'Sold Its Soul For Ratings' (VIDEO)

system1 · December 11, 2015, 4:35pm

Discussion for article #243688

geofu54 · December 11, 2015, 4:45pm

Oh man, Charlie, you are right about everything until you reach this…

he planned to support Ohio Gov. John Kasich in 2016

… point.

How could this possibly happen?

sniffit · December 11, 2015, 4:45pm

You know, I’ll give him some credit: mofo says what’s on his mind, he ain’t lyin’ about it and he’s right about CNN in this instance.

brendanm · December 11, 2015, 4:47pm

He’s been watching too much garbage corporate media like CNN and thinks Kasich is a reasonable moderate.

weatherservo9 · December 11, 2015, 4:48pm

When has CNN not been like that?

pine · December 11, 2015, 4:49pm

Let me give you some more reinforcement,not that you need it your take is spot on.Charles.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: What Donald Trump and ISIS Have in Common

								Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

							

		Dec. 9, 2015

enon · December 11, 2015, 4:56pm

barkley was a long-time gop supporter and considered running for governor of alabama as a republican. he ditched the party ‘when they lost their minds’ in 2006, and was a vocal supporter of obama.

it’s nice to see someone of his stature denounce the crap content of cnn. too bad it won’t make a bit of difference.

meri · December 11, 2015, 4:57pm

Wow, for the first time ever I almost care WTF Barkley has to say.

anniew · December 11, 2015, 4:59pm

Exactly. He’s conservative, has always been so, but recognizes they Repubs have lost their minds.

I could see why Kasich would appeal to him, he doesn’t do the dog whistles or the Trump method of using a bullhorn on race issues.

awould · December 11, 2015, 5:02pm

He’s not wrong.

jeffrey · December 11, 2015, 5:04pm

It wasn’t like that for about the first five years it was on the air as it was new and doing things the Big 3 had begun to quit doing, like good foreign coverage.

The fact of the matter is that “news” doesn’t need to be covered 24/7/365. “Break” new stories and then put them on the shelf until the facts and fuller story are available. Yes, I too wanted to know everything I could learn about what happened in Paris, but there was so much going on in the first few hours that no one could possibly have a clear picture of what happened.

So, yes, Sir Charles is correct about selling it’s soul for ratings and the completely unfounded fear of Fox.

estamm · December 11, 2015, 5:09pm

CNN sold their soul for ratings, and then didn’t even get the ratings.

boisdevache · December 11, 2015, 5:09pm

Who would have ever thought Charles Barkley of all people would ever jump the low bar into the top tier of political punditry?

littlegirlblue · December 11, 2015, 5:33pm

You beat me to this post. Abdul-Jabbar was interviewed by O’Donnell last night and it was a thoughtful discussion of how harmful Trump is and as most people understand he’s completely willfully ignorant about the world of Muslims. O’Donnell showed a photo of Abdul-Jabbar posing with Trump and an unidentified woman, Trump now says Abdul-Jabbar photoshopped it and it never happened

littlegirlblue · December 11, 2015, 5:37pm

CNN is still going ahead and showing its special two-hour program tonight examining whether Trump gets too much coverage. They don’t care what Barkley or anyone else thinks.

headhunter212 · December 11, 2015, 5:46pm

Not as out of character as you might think…
Charles Barkley: [“I Was a Republican Until They Lost Their Minds”][1]
Nearly ran for Governor of Alabama as an R.

Luckily, he evolved.
[1]: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/charles-barkley-i-was-a-republican-until-they-lost-their-minds-20060720%23ixzz3u2FqSJk8

yskov · December 11, 2015, 5:54pm

Light night Mike Pesca absolutely tore apart CNN for their presentation of a focus group made up of supposedly “ordinary” Trump supporters - whoever chose them knew they’d get some good TV out of these well documented crazies (some of whom are elected officials) - a perfect illustration of Barkley’s point. It’s in the last five minutes or so of Pesca’s podcast The Gist.

thx1138 · December 11, 2015, 5:55pm

CNN has been garbage infotainment for a long time now. People who only watch Fox News don’t tune in because they wrongfully believe it’s a liberal network that just promotes Democrats, and I don’t know why liberals would watch because who wants to watch hollow breaking news segments and insane right-wing nonsense treated equal to sane positions?

I think the only ratings they get these days are from doctors office waiting rooms and that one channel at the gym that isn’t a sports channel.

spocksblackpants · December 11, 2015, 5:55pm

Right, this is the first time I’ve ever heard he was a “longtime democrat” because every mouth fart I’ve heard from this guy has been rather repugnant.

tomanjeri · December 11, 2015, 6:05pm

Welcome to the late 1990s Mr. Barkley, because CNN has been doing this for a very long time.