As has become routine on The View, the liberal hosts ganged up on libertarian host Jedediah Bila Wednesday after she pointed out the mainstream media’s liberal bias. After Playboy's White House Correspondent threw a temper tantrum in yesterday’s press briefing, the panel criticized Trump's treatment of the media. Host Sunny Hostin gushed that the reporter was only there to be a “watchdog” for the White House and to protect us against a “dictatorship.”
Hostin ranted that how the White House was acting with reporters was “scary,” suggesting Trump was trying to lead a “dictatorship:”
SUNNY HOSTIN: They have to stick together. What's scary is she's doing what she's being told to do. This is coming directly from the president. This is coming from the White House. And what they are trying to do, I think, is damage the freedom of the press which is protected by our Constitution, which is protected by the First Amendment. If you look at the recent polls, a majority 65% of voters believe there's a lot of fake news in the mainstream media and the majority say the mainstream media publishes fake news and 37% trust the White House versus 29% who favor the political media. We need to be very concerned about this because this is what happens in Russia, this is what happens in China, when you believe the government state sponsored news over the people, you're leading -- it's a dictatorship.
As a member of the ABC News legal team, Hostin had made this Chicken Little rallying cry before to her fellow journalists, urging them to “unite” against Trump.
But host Jedediah Bila defended Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders as doing what every press secretary does in pushing back against the media’s questions. She cited the Russia story and the recent revelations and resignations at CNN as a sign that the media isn’t always working in the public’s best interest.
BILA: Every press secretary does this. I think he [Trump] is echoing the sentiment of a lot of people across the country who are tired of the media...There's been a bombshell report out of people that went behind the scenes at CNN. A lot is for ratings but no new information and plenty to cover. You want to criticize Trump's policies, criticize other stuff and let that unfold. It looks like it's very crafted.
Whoopi disagreed, saying the media spends so much time on the Russia investigation because more and more of Trump’s people get linked to Russia. “Had this been any other president, I don't think they would have been able to get away with any of this,” she stated.
“They have all that and we have the press,” Joy Behar complained, referencing the Supreme Court and Congress. “So the press has to fight him!” she gushed.
Hostin jumped on the bandwagon. “The press is the watchdog of the government and has always been!” she reiterated. At that statement Bila scoffed:
“You think the press, the mainstream media at large was as tough on the Obama Administration as it is on the Trump Administration?” she asked.
It was Hostin’s turn to scoff. “Oh! Are you kidding me? Really?” she said in disbelief. The rest of the panel also expressed outrage that Bila would dare say such a thing.
Whoopi then scolded Bila that most of their audience didn’t agree with her, to applause. This time at least she didn’t add in a personal attack like she did on Monday’s show.
Whoopi also argued again that Obama received just as much media scrutiny as Trump has:
WHOOPI: Let me point something out to you. Actually, you know, there are a lot of folks in this audience that see it a little bit differently. But we see it from a different perspective. [ Applause ]
We see it from a different perspective. In that, you know, we watched the mainstream media sit back while he was called un-American, while he was called all kinds of stuff. He took a lot of hits. I know you don't see it from that perspective, but when I look, I've never seen any president except this one questioned the way he was questioned.
