Iconic news anchor and former "Nightline" host Ted Koppel recently fired a shot across the bow at the mainstream media — particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post — saying that President Donald Trump's perception that the "liberal media" is "out to get him" is not without merit.

'I'm terribly concerned'



"I'm terribly concerned that when you talk about the New York Times these days, when you talk about the Washington Post these days, we're not talking about the New York Times of 50 years ago," Koppel noted to journalist and author Marvin Kalb earlier this month. "We are not talking about the Washington Post of 50 years ago. We're talking about organizations that I believe have, in fact, decided as organizations that Donald J. Trump is bad for the United States."

Koppel added that "we have things appearing on the front page of the New York Times right now that never would have appeared 50 years ago. Analysis, commentary on the front page."

The legendary anchor recalled the infamous Trump "grab them by the p***y" audio hitting the news cycle a month before the 2016 election and told the audience, "I will not offend any of you here by using the language, but you know exactly what words were used, and they were spelled out on the front page of the New York Times. I turned to my wife and I said, 'The Times is absolutely committed to making sure that this guy does not get elected.'"

More from Koppel:



So [Trump's] perception that the establishment press is out to get him — doesn't mean that great journalism is not being done; it is — but the notion that most of us look upon Donald Trump as being an absolute fiasco, he's not mistaken in that perception. And he's not mistaken when so many of the liberal media, for example, describe themselves as belonging to "the resistance"? What does that mean? That's not said by people who consider themselves reporters, objective reporters of facts. That's the kind of language that's used by people who genuinely believe — and rather suspect with some justification — that Donald Trump is bad for the United States ... and the sooner he's out of office the better they will like it.

'Not the reservoir of objectivity'



Koppel added to Kalb that "we are not the reservoir of objectivity that I think we were."

Kalb — whose book "Enemy of the People: Trump's War on the Press, the New McCarthyism, and the Threat to American Democracy" was the subject of the discussion — disagreed with Koppel.

Remember?

This wasn't the first time Koppel took aim at the mainstream media. In October, Koppel told CNN's Brian Stelter that his network's ratings "would be in the toilet without Donald Trump" — after which Stelter became quite annoyed.

(H/T: Louder With Crowder)

