The New York Times decided that it was acceptable to refer to President Trump as a liar in its news copy – even on its front page -- in an extraordinary step even for such a liberal publication. Now there is a push elsewhere in the “mainstream media” for the 45th president to be labeled a racist.

“A year ago, big media organizations like the New York Times faced facts and called Trump a liar on the front page. It's time to use the word racist, too,” Columbia Journalism Review editor and publisher Kyle Pope wrote.

The Columbia Journalism Review’s official website states that its mission is to “be the intellectual leader in the rapidly changing world of journalism,” while shaping “the ideas that make media leaders and journalists smarter about their work.” It is published by Columbia University’s prestigious journalism school and is widely influential among the elite journalistic establishment.

Pope declined further comment when reached by Fox News. The New York Times did not immediately respond when asked if the paper will take Pope’s advice.

Not everyone agrees with the CJR’s assessment and Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News that Pope’s operation is “simply an extension of unhinged liberal thought but with a veneer of legitimacy.”

“If journalism is ever to be fixed in the U.S., it needs to be repaired at every level, starting at biased educational institutions like in Columbia.” — Dan Gainor, Media Research Center

Gainor continued: “If journalism is ever to be fixed in the U.S., it needs to be repaired at every level, starting at biased educational institutions like in Columbia.”

Conservative podcast host and The Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro didn’t like that Trump urged the firing of National Football League players who kneel during the National Anthem, but he doesn’t think it makes the president a racist.

“When I think that President Trump has wrong footed on racial issues, I’ve been very clear about it, but I don’t see the racist intent here,” Shapiro told Fox News' Dana Perino Monday night. “This isn’t about race.”

The Times didn’t start calling then-candidate Trump a liar without considering how powerful that word can be. The paper’s executive editor Dean Baquet said “’lie’ is not a word that newspapers use comfortably.” However, the word has popped up a lot since Baquet decided it was acceptable. The paper even publishes a list, simply titled, “Trump’s Lies,” that is updated as editors feel necessary.

“I think we owed it to our readers to just call it out for what it was,” Baquet told NPR's Steve Inskeep in September 2016.

But being called a “racist” is different from being painted as a liar. Many athletes, media members and football fans are outraged because Trump has called for the NFL to “fire or suspend” any players who protest civil inequality by kneeling for the National Anthem. Trump didn’t specifically call out black players, but some media members took it upon themselves to read between the lines.

“There is an unmistakable racial element at play, since he is targeting prominent black players,” CNN Brian Stelter wrote. MSNBC’s Joy Reid took things a step further on Twitter Monday afternoon.

“Trump thinks of these black NFL players as little more than gladiators -- enslaved meat and bones who need to do what their ‘owners’ say,” Reid wrote.

Back in July 23, the Times published an op-ed titled, “Is Donald Trump a Racist?” The column, written by Nicholas Kristof, points to a nearly 45-year-old lawsuit, Trump’s father possibly being arrested back in 1927, the infamous “Central Park jogger” case from 1989 and the Obama birther issue. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner couldn’t dig up any concrete evidence that Trump is a racist that occurred in the last 25 years other than the typical far-left talking points.

But now the head of Columbia Journalism Review and many other high-profile members of the mainstream media want the President of the United States to be labeled a racist in print, as if it’s a fact, over rhetoric regarding football.

It will be interesting to see if any reputable news organizations take the advice of the Columbia Journalism Review’s publisher but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich doesn’t think it should happen.

“He talked about defending the flag,” Gingrich said on “Hannity” Monday night. “He talked about defending, you know, our national anthem. Now, how you take that and translate it into a racial attack tells you everything you need to know about the sickness of the modern left and the sickness of the Democratic Party.”