The meta-media feud that united Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann in opposition to Ted Koppel continued this weekend, as Koppel appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources, and responded to the former Countdown host’s response to Koppel’s November op-ed piece, “The Death of Real News.”

The man best known as the longtime anchor of ABC’s Nightline, Ted Koppel, says “wildly opinionated” cable news has left him “saddened,” and he believes viewers deserve–and the times require–”a little more serious objectivity.”

Speaking to Howard Kurtz on CNN, Koppel discussed an article he wrote last fall, calling out opinion hosts like Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and then-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann for creating a culture of partisanship that dimishes all cable news:

There is still no consensus amongst liberals or conservatives whether President Obama should have used military action in Libya. Lining up on the side of those critical of Obama is the BBC‘s Ted Koppel who wonders of all the countries worldwide that face a potential humanitarian crisis, why do the citizens of Libya deserve America’s focus and protection more than the citizens of any other country?

To mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the Iranian hostage crisis, Ted Koppel–whose ABC News show, Nightline, was created to cover the crisis–appeared on BBC World News America to talk about what’s changed, and what hasn’t.

Koppel, who joked about how he’s changed in three decades (the “ravages of time,” he said) and pointed out that he’s currently in a sling for a torn rotator cuff, said Iran, by comparison, has only grown in power and influence.

Yesterday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller took a page from Ted Koppel’s book by saying that he wouldn’t mind saying “goodbye” to Fox News and MSNBC. Just like Koppel received harsh rebuttals from Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck was ready to respond to Rockefeller, comparing a government wanting to shut down the media to bank robbers asking for less police.

Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann do not care for each other. Not only do they appear to vehemently disagree over the role of government, and the intersection of media and politics, neither appears to be able to mention the other without disparagement – or in O’Reilly’s case, even mention Olbermann’s name at all. However, there appears to be one significant issue on which they agree, and that is that Ted Koppel‘s recent critique on the state of television news — which indicted the methodology and mien of both Olbermann and O’Reilly — was way off base.

If a mainstream journalist were to associate Bill O’Reilly‘s name with the death of real news, it would normally be a safe bet to predict that The Factor host would come back swinging. Surprisingly, Ted Koppel (the author of the controversial proclamation), got off easy when O’Reilly’s harshest insult was to say “Koppel is at least my intellectual equal.”

Keith Olbermann may have just inadvertently won himself the praise of the American right. In a twelve-minute Special Comment refuting Ted Koppel‘s obituary to “real news” this week, Olbermann attempted to unmask the true nature of so-called objective journalism legends like Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. They weren’t objective, he argues– they were liberals, just like him.

200,000 people may have gone to listen to Jon Stewart decry the domination of partisan and extreme opinions in our news media and political discourse but, at the end of the day (and, as he tried his best to explain last night with Rachel Maddow), he is still a comedian commenting from the outside. Ted Koppel is not. The 47 year veteran of journalism wrote an editorial for the Washington Post entitled “Olbermann, O’Reilly and the death of real news”, in which, as the title suggests, he doesn’t mince words describing his displeasure with the two biggest cable news outlets.

Former longtime ABC anchor Ted Koppel‘s son, Andrew Koppel, was found dead yesterday morning in a Washington Heights apartment after a daylong drinking binge, reports the New York Post.

Andrew Koppel, 40, was a an attorney for the New York City Housing Authority.

ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper has already faced the Mediaite 5 Quick Questions juggernaut, but has bravely decided to occupy the hot-seat once again for this edition of Inside the White House Press Corps.

Here, Tapper discusses what it takes to be a good White House reporter, his relationship with Robert Gibbs, the relative merits of the Wonder Pets and much more.

Cross Ted Koppel off the list of potential anchors of ABC’s Sunday morning show This Week.

Broadcasting & Cable‘s Marisa Guthrie reports that, despite previous reports, talks have ended between ABC and the former Nightline anchor without an offer.

The past two weeks have provided an opportunity to compare the performance of a pair of leading candidates to succeed George Stephanopoulos as the host of ABC’s This Week. By one measure, at least, White House correspondent Jake Tapper has emerged with an advantage over Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran, drawing 60,000 more viewers. That might seem slim, but a closer look at the numbers indicates that ABC might want to consider moving in Tapper’s direction.

On the night rumors swirled over whether Ted Koppel may be heading back to ABC News as anchor of This Week, he was on BBC America in his commentator role to talk about the response to the Christmas Day attempted terror attack.

And the former hard newsman did not hold back on making his very strong opinions known.

Ted Koppel has been offered ABC’s This Week job, reports Politico’s Mike Allen ‘exclusively’ and definitively this morning.

Except, the story has already changed – and ABC News President David Westin has delivered a strong smackdown of Allen’s rushed “reporting”.