Koppel Blasts ‘Resistance’ Establishment Media, Who Just Want Trump Gone, Not True Journalism

March 20, 2019 (EIRNS)—Appearing March 17 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel insightfully remarked that the establishment media are not what they were 50 years ago, when actual news appeared on the front pages of major dailies instead of salacious gossip—or worse.

“I’m terribly concerned when you talk about the New York Times today, when you talk about the Washington Post these days. We’re not talking about the New York Times of 50 years ago. We’re talking about [media] organizations that, I believe, have in fact decided as organizations that Donald J. Trump is bad for the United States,”

Koppel said. Koppel told the event’s host, former New York Times columnist Marvin Kalb, that “We are not the reservoir of objectivity that I think we were.” The front pages of the Times and the Post today are filled with opinion commentary and analysis, something that was unheard of decades ago.

So, Koppel observed, Trump’s “perception that the establishment media is out to get him ... 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, described themselves as belonging to the ‘Resistance.’ What does that mean?” He went on:

“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 I rather suspect with some justification, that Donald Trump is bad for the United States, and they’re betting that the sooner he’s out of office, the better they will like it.”

Kalb, who was variously correspondent and anchor for CBS and NBC years ago, grumbled in response to Koppel, “I think we’re better than you’re describing.”