Despite being "spectacularly wrong" about Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, the media has doubled down on its criticism of the president, especially the network anchors who have crossed the line in their attacks, according to a prominent media analyst.

"Given that the media were so spectacularly wrong about Donald Trump during the campaign … I thought we would see a little bit of a course correction," Howard Kurtz said. "Beginning with the transition and after the president took office, there was virtually no honeymoon which is traditional. The negative tone has kept up," he added.

The Fox News and former Washington Post media critic pointed a finger at network anchors, especially CBS's Scott Pelley. Interviewed on " Full Measure" with Sharyl Attkisson, he said:

"You know, the anchors of a network evening newscast have a special place, people still look to them to be fair arbiters of the news. And language Scott Pelley uses while on CBS, when he comes out and essentially calls President Trump a liar, may win him applause from some in the mainstream media but it seems to cross a very clear line."

Attkisson, whose show appears Sunday mornings on Sinclair stations and online, also heard media criticism from former CNN anchor Frank Sesno, now the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University.

Sesno told the show that what amounts to bias has never been so high in media coverage.

"The political filter has never been as thick and obscuring as it is now," he said. "We have more politics in our coverage. We have more ideology in our media. This is where the media are going to have to make a stand, and you know, Washington Post's (new motto) 'Democracy dies in darkness,' well that's, you know that sounds like a sequel to a 'Batman' movie but it's, it's also both a calling and a flag in the ground," he added.

Kurtz noted that reporters feel free to snark on Trump, especially on Twitter, the president's favorite form of communicating with supporters.

"They're snarky on Twitter, they're going on TV, they're slinging their opinions and these lines got blurred. President Trump has been obliterated because it is deemed acceptable in many quarters to say negative things about this president, to say snarky things, to doubt his word," said the media critic.

But both Kurtz and Sesno suggested that the mainstream media has been provoked by Trump and his attacks.

"When he uses phrases like mainstream media 'fake news, enemy of the American people,' that in my view goes a little too far," said Kurtz.

"This is a different ballgame," said Sesno, adding, "We've always had an aggressive press, we've always had a political press, we've always had a snarky White House press. But this is different. I think it's different because Donald Trump has singled out the press and their treatment. He's declared war on the press."

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com