Despite bountiful evidence to the contrary, Larry King claims that he never witnessed any media bias in his many years in the business.  Really, he used the word “never.”  Over 50 years in radio and television, and he never saw any bias.

“I worked at CNN for almost 26 years. I worked in Mutual Radio for 20 years. I’ve been in the business 57 years. I have never seen a bias off the air or on,” King told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV.

“I’ve never seen anyone say, let’s go get this person today, let’s really ram it into him. I’ve never seen it. If a Democrat or Republican commits some horrendous story, the story will run, the networks will cover it.”

“I have never seen anyone at CNN ever say, boy, here’s how we’re going to deal with this today to put this guy down and elevate this guy up. I’ve never seen it,” King said Wednesday.  That even extends to coverage of political events, King insists.

“I’ve covered every convention since 1960. I’ve never gone to a convention with a built-in bias . . . It’s the truth. It’s not a feeling. It’s not an opinion . . . It’s my experience.”

Well, if you define media bias as someone saying “Let’s put this guy down and elevate this guy up” or Let’s go get this person today,” then King could be right.  Bias is usually a tad more subtle than that, although certainly not always.  Sometimes the naiveté or obtuseness of celebrities – even “news” celebrities – can be mind-boggling.  Perhaps King needed that blatant, no-doubt-about-it bias in order to see it.  Or perhaps he chose to not see it.

King certainly has the right to his opinion and his experience.  However, we have to question if he watched the same CNN as the rest of us.  It was CNN’s bias that finally drove me away.  I gave it up after the 2008 election when Campbell Brown resorted to shrieking questions and accusations at any Republican that was unfortunate enough to be on her show.  Since then other CNN hosts, such as Soledad O’Brien, Piers Morgan,  and Eliot Spitzer, have  reinforced my opinion that CNN, impartiality, and often common sense are not best buds.  (Note: For what it’s worth, I seldom watch ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox News either.  For the most part, I get my news from a myriad of online sources).

So Larry King never saw any biased reporting at CNN.  When someone deals in absolutes (King used the word “never” six times in the quote above), they’re seldom right.  Sorry, Larry, I don’t believe you.