On Friday, journalist Ted Koppel appeared on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live.” During his segment, Koppel and host Dan Abrams covered several topics before discussing the bias in legacy media, especially as it relates to former President Trump.
Abrams first read a 2019 quote from Koppel:
<blockquote>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. We’re 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.</blockquote>
Abrams then asked Koppel if he still felt the same way.
After praising legacy outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post for “brilliant journalism,” Koppel noted that “opinion belongs on the opinion page; that’s why they call it the op-ed section.”
“I don’t like seeing opinion being expressed on the front page of a great newspaper,” Koppel said, later adding that it “bothers me when I see them losing some of the criteria that always used to keep a wall between opinion and news coverage.”
Abrams pushed back, saying that some journalists claim that Trump is different, and therefore must be “covered differently by the media.”
“I think if you start drawing those distinctions, it&#8217;s very difficult to know where you stop drawing the distinction. Do you feel that way about anybody else in politics?” Koppel replied before reiterating that the place for opinion is the op-ed page.
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TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>ABRAMS: Do you still feel that way, and if so, how has that, do you think, impacted media coverage of Donald Trump over the past few years?
KOPPEL: Well, let me be absolutely clear: I think The New York Times and The Washington Post do some absolutely brilliant journalism. But I think opinion belongs on the opinion page; that’s why they call it the op-ed section. And that&#8217;s where the opinion pieces are, the columns; that’s where the editorials are, and that&#8217;s where it belongs. I don’t like seeing opinion being expressed on the front page of a great newspaper. Having said that, let me say again, I think the Times, the Post, The Wall Street Journal are doing some of the best journalism that I have seen over the past 50 years. I just wish they wouldn&#8217;t slip into that category. And when you start — you know, Lyndon Johnson used to say, when we get down in the mud with a hog, the hog loves it, and you both get dirty. So, it bothers me when I see them losing some of the criteria that always used to keep a wall between opinion and news coverage.
ABRAMS: And as you know, the response to that from some would be that Donald Trump is different, that he has to be covered differently by the media than others. What do you make of that?
KOPPEL: Well, I think if you start drawing those distinctions, it&#8217;s very difficult to know where you stop drawing the distinction. Do you feel that way about anybody else in politics? Is, you know, are we going to start picking up our morning newspaper to see who’s in and who’s out in terms of the news coverage? Again, there is a place for that, in the op-ed section. I don&#8217;t like it on the front page.</blockquote>

New York Times

Ted Koppel Slams Media Bias: ‘If You Start Drawing Those Distinctions,’ Hard To ‘Know Where You Stop’

Donald Trump

Legacy Media

Ted Koppel

On Monday&#8217;s Hannity, Fox News Channel&#8217;s Sean Hannity described CBS&#8217;s Ted Koppel as a purveyor of &#8220;edited fake news.&#8221;
Yesterday, CBS <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhx4B9_9HuI">published a news segment</a> ostensibly examining the contemporary news media landscape, <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/14791/koppel-hannity-youre-bad-america-robert-kraychik">pushing a narrative</a> of America&#8217;s body politic being damaged by inaccurate opinion and politically polarizing opinionated content. CBS framed the allegedly harmful political content as a mostly right-wing, conservative, and Republican news media phenomenon.
Yesterday also saw CBS&#8217; 60 Minutes <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/watch-the-tense-60-minutes-showdown-between-scott-pelley-and-trump-right-figure-mike-cernovich/">push a similar narrative</a> with Michael Cernovich.
Hannity claimed to have spent 45 minutes with Koppel, noting that only 70 seconds went to air. Acknowledging time restraints on CBS&#8217;s television broadcast platform, he invited CBS and/or Koppel to publish the unedited entirety of their interview online.
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Question of the Day: Do you think CBS should post my full interview with Ted Koppel online? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hannity?src=hash">#Hannity</a>
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846556956286504960">March 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Will <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews">@CBSNews</a> release the 45 plus minute unedited tape? I doubt it. They will hear Ted say he&#8217;s not including substantive answers.
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846391374488489984">March 27, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews">@CBSNews</a> Now RELEASE THE ENTIRE unedited interview. It was frankly a fun exchange. <a href="https://t.co/CHiGdf8nHR">https://t.co/CHiGdf8nHR</a>
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846078309117149187">March 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Fake &#8220;edited&#8221; news. I gave a example after example of why I say &#8220;journalism is dead&#8221;. I also gave many examples of how liberalism has failed <a href="https://t.co/prynzE2yLQ">https://t.co/prynzE2yLQ</a>
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846066067411783680">March 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews">@CBSNews</a> NOW RELEASE THE Entire unedited interview!! <a href="https://t.co/CHiGdf8nHR">https://t.co/CHiGdf8nHR</a>
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846075798721351680">March 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Fake Edited News&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews">@CBSNews</a> release the Unedited 45 minute interview so people can see the BS games you play in the edit room. I dare you! <a href="https://t.co/prynzE2yLQ">https://t.co/prynzE2yLQ</a>
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846067040582545414">March 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Fake &#8220;edited&#8221; news. I did about a 45 minute interview with CBS. They ran less than 2. Why did Ted cut out my many examples of media bias? <a href="https://t.co/prynzE2yLQ">https://t.co/prynzE2yLQ</a>
&#8212; Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/846065227049390081">March 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The story was written long before [Koppel] walked into this interview at [Fox News Channel&#8217;s studios],&#8221; said Hannity. &#8220;I was just used it as a prop to advance his narrative.&#8221;
Hannity described Koppel as &#8220;agenda-driven, opinionated, [and] hypocritical.&#8221; He further implied that Koppel and other left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media personalities deceive their audiences by operating upon pretenses of political objectivity and non-partisanship. Koppel, he added, presents himself as a &#8220;down the middle, fair and balanced, [and] real journalist.&#8221;
Hannity described himself as an &#8220;advocacy journalist,&#8221; saying the American public can broadly discern between facts and opinions without governmental management of the news media industry.
In order to prevent being deliberately misrepresented via decontextualization of interviews with left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets such as CBS, interviewees should produce their own copies of such interviews. Hannity seemingly neglected to do this, despite his interview with Koppel having taken place in Fox News Channel&#8217;s studios in New York City.
CBS is no stranger to the production or purveyance of &#8220;fake news.&#8221; Hannity invited his audience to reacquaint themselves with Dan Rather&#8217;s &#8220;Rathergate&#8221; scandal and the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stonewalled-Obstruction-Intimidation-Harassment-Washington/dp/0062322850">departure</a> of <a href="http://sharylattkisson.com/">Sharyl Attkisson</a> from CBS.

CBS presents itself as a politically objective and non-partisan news outlet.

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.
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Hannity: CBS’ Koppel Pushed ‘Edited Fake News’ About Me

Fox News

Media

Media Bias

Sean Hannity

CBS&#8217;s Ted Koppel views Sean Hannity and &#8220;all these opinion shows&#8221; as damaging to America. 
In a segment ostensibly examining political and partisan polarization across the news media landscape and America more broadly, Koppel waxed nostalgic for an earlier era of greater partisan and political homogeneity across news media outlets.
&#8220;Do you think I&#8217;m bad for America?&#8221; asked Hannity of CBS&#8217;s Ted Koppel.
&#8220;Yeah,&#8221; replied Koppel, describing the work of openly opinionated news media personalities as damaging to America &#8220;in the long haul.&#8221; 
&#8220;You have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts,&#8221; said Koppel to Hannity.

&#8220;That&#8217;s sad, Ted,&#8221; said Hannity to Koppel. &#8220;You&#8217;re selling the American people short,&#8221; he added, describing Americans as broadly able to discern between facts and opinions.
Koppel described the elimination of the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/FairnessReport/102Book1FCC2d145_djvu.txt">Fairness Doctrine</a> &#8211; a former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policy mandating news media broadcasters&#8217; coverage of &#8220;controversial issues&#8221; be fair per the FCC&#8217;s opinion &#8211; as facilitating the creation of &#8220;two separate worlds&#8221; of politics via the ascendance of Rush Limbaugh.
Advocates for the Fairness Doctrine described the federal government&#8217;s control of political and partisan editorializing among news media broadcasters as serving &#8220;the public interest.&#8221; They credited the Fairness Doctrine with allowing Americans a &#8220;reasonable opportunity [to consume] the presentation of contrasting viewpoints.&#8221; &#8220;The right of the viewing and listening public to suitable access to the marketplace of ideas,&#8221; they added, &#8220;justifies restrictions on the rights of broadcasters [to determine their own editorial perspectives].&#8221;

As the internet&#8217;s rise loosens the strangehold over the dissemination and filtration of information previously held by traditional news media outlets, news media personalities such as Koppel lament their diminishing roles as curators of American politics.
Barack Obama <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/11174/obama-still-crying-about-fox-news-and-new-media-robert-kraychik">expressed similar frustrations</a> with the news media landscape&#8217;s contemporary fragmentation, pining for a previous era of an oligopolistic news media industry.
Many <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21706498-dishonesty-politics-nothing-new-manner-which-some-politicians-now-lie-and">left-wing</a> and <a href="http://time.com/4650956/photojournalism-post-truth/">Democrat-aligned</a> <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/journalism-post-truth-trump-2016-election-politics-susan-glasser-214523">news</a> <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/18/the-liar-in-chief-the-dangers-of-post-truth-politics.html">media</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/opinion/campaign-stops/the-age-of-post-truth-politics.html">outlets</a> are pushing a narrative of a &#8220;<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/welcome-our-post-truth-presidency-n729481">post-truth</a>&#8221; era of politics and news media, presenting Trump and the ascendance of right-wing and conservative news media outlets as joint catalysts for this supposedly new phenomenon.
This narrative&#8217;s subtext includes the implication that Americans, broadly, are incapable of discerning between fact, fiction, and opinion in their news media consumption. This alleged widespread inability justifies governmental management of news media operations lest Americans be led astray by mendacious news media figures.
The Oxford English dictionary selected &#8220;<a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016">post-truth</a>&#8221; as 2016&#8217;s word of the year.
Koppel presents himself as an objective and non-partsian news media personality. CBS likewise presents itself as an objective and non-partisan news outlet.

H/T Josh Feldman at <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ted-koppel-tells-sean-hannity-he-thinks-hes-bad-for-america/">Mediaite</a>

Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.
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Koppel To Hannity: You’re Bad For America

Rush Limbaugh

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Ted Koppel

Ted Koppel Slams Media Bias: ‘If You Start Drawing Those Distinctions,’ Hard To ‘Know Where You Stop’

Hannity: CBS’ Koppel Pushed ‘Edited Fake News’ About Me

Koppel To Hannity: You’re Bad For America