The same mainstream media outlets which peddle false or exaggerated stories on the daily, are now taking a victory lap around Fox News for reporting on two inaccurate stories this week about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The hosts of The View also joined in by panicking over right-wing media’s “smear campaign” against Biden and Harris. But conservative co-host Meghan McCain chided her co-hosts for ignoring the obvious fact that liberal bias dominates the media and they ignore stories that are damaging to Democrats.
Whoopi Goldberg started off by playing a highlight reel of Republicans discussing a debunked New York Post story alleging minors at a border facility were given Kamala Harris’s book, as well as Fox News issuing an apology for a misleading graphic about the Biden administration wanting to limit meat consumption for climate change. That spurred condescending lectures from the liberal co-hosts about media bias and fake news on the right.
“I mean there wasn’t even an iota of truth in either one, so what does a correction really do?” Goldberg scoffed. Co-host Sunny Hostin blasted conservative media’s “smear campaign” against the new administration:
Well it’s just too little too late, right? This is really disappointing and its just part of this smear campaign and the campaign of misinformation that keeps coming from these conservative outlets. People do listen. So many people in this country get their news from Fox News. Fox News picked up this "New York Post" article and continued and continued and continued to run with it.
Hostin went on to bemoan there being “no consequences” for journalists or TV personalities like Tucker Carlson on the right, who get it wrong or spread misinformation. She laughably claimed that reporters at other outlets would be fired immediately:
I can tell you that In most news organizations if you make that kind of false claim as a reporter, as an anchor, you're suspended, you’re fired or reprimanded. That doesn't happen to any of the Fox News anchors or personalities. They just keep going on business as usual and that's really dangerous.
After the last four years, the irony of left-wing media personalities being outraged by a supposed "smear campaign" against the new administration after two misleading stories is beyond absurd. While insisting we do need fair and accurate media stories, Meghan McCain scoffed at the sudden concern about fake news and media bias:
The reason why these outlets need to exist is because everything else is liberal. Everywhere else. There's a reason why Fox is killing it in the ratings and laps everyone else. It's because it seems like it's rigged, its rigged every place else. You know people on CNN. You think Jim Acosta isn't an activist? I don't have any trust in people on CNN anymore. I take such umbrage at this entire concept that liberal media which runs all of media, all tech, all of entertainment, all of music, all of culture, all of politics, all three branches of government, I'm supposed to feel bad because there's two things from Fox News that have like--have been inaccurate? I mean let's go down the list of all the things every day that are inaccurate on CNN and MSNBC and then we can talk about fairness in the media.
But Goldberg and Joy Behar disagreed with McCain.
“You know, if you live in the middle of America, you recognize that all media is not liberal. All media is not conservative. All media is not everything,” Goldberg retorted.
Behar defended the media’s Hunter Biden blackout by claiming, “It was actually never vetted and never verified” by “various news outlets.” She added:
[M]aybe you can say there's a liberal bias but I watch a lot of news. Besides MSNBC there's no liberal bias. There is basically balance on most stations. Um, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, all of them have both conservatives and liberals. So I think that it's incorrect to say that there is a completely liberal bias and, therefore -- Fox and MSNBC are the only ones who are really on both ends of the spectrum, in my opinion.
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Read the transcript portions below:
The View
4/28/2021
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I mean there wasn’t even [laughing] an iota of truth in either one. So what does a correction really do? Sunny, I’ll start with you.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well it’s just too little too late, right? This is really disappointing and its just part of this smear campaign and the campaign of misinformation that keeps coming from these conservative outlets. People do listen. So many people in this country get their news from Fox News. Fox News picked up this "New York Post" article and continued and continued and continued to run with it. Now you have the reporter who has been with the Post since the 1990s saying I was forced to write this. I regret not pushing back on it and I'm resigning. I don't know many reporters that would just write it anyway so I take issue with that piece. The other thing is, you think about someone like John Roberts who I used to work with at CNN who has been for a long time a reputable reporter, a White House correspondent, repeating this claim that Joe Biden is going to take away your burgers before July 4th. Apparently that -- Joe Biden's climate plans don't include restrictions on red meat consumption but you see it over and over. You see the slandering of Kamala Harris, you hear the misinformation coming from Tucker Carlson about mask wearing, about vaccines. Again this is a sort of like a public health hazard and what are the consequences from it?What are the repercussions from it? I think Americans pay, sometimes with their lives. There aren't-- it seems to be real world repercussions because Fox News doesn't do anything about it. Rupert Murdoch doesn’t do anything about. I can tell you that In most news organizations if you make that kind of false claim as a reporter, as an anchor, you're suspended, you’re fired or reprimanded. That doesn't happen to any of the Fox News anchors or personalities. They just keep going on business as usual and that's really dangerous.
…
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Right. Meghan, when you listen to stuff like this and you think we talk about this a lot---when people write inaccurate stories, don't we have an obligation to try as media people, all media people, to bring the news as it is accurate and then check the story before we put them out?
MEGHAN MCCAIN: Yeah. Obviously. I think that on all sides. This is a weird topic for me, even when I was like talking about it with my producers this morning. Just bear with me on this. I am the token conservative in media, in mainstream media. The only conservative woman in all of mainstream media. The reason why is there's a token is because the mainstream media only feels like there needs to be one on a show like this. One person out of five represented means there's enough conservative media coverage. What I find interesting in working in what I consider liberal media not not the stories we talk about, but the stories we don't talk about. For example we never talked about Hunter Biden whereas Ivanka Trump or Donald Trump Junior coughed in the wrong direction it’d probably take up the first two blocks. I think John Roberts is one of the best reporters across the board. I disagree vociferously with what you said Sunny. I also--It's interesting because my husband and I, you know, exist -- our whole world is conservatively media. He founded and runs one of the most influential and highly trafficked conservative websites on the internet. The reason why these outlets need to exist is because everything else is liberal. Everywhere else. There's a reason why Fox is killing it in the ratings and laps everyone else. It's because it seems like it's rigged , its rigged every place else. You know people on CNN. You think Jim Acosta isn't an activist? I don't have any trust in people on CNN anymore. I take such umbrage at this entire concept that liberal media which runs all of media, all tech, all of entertainment, all of music, all of culture, all of politics, all three branches of government, I'm supposed to feel bad because there's two things from Fox News that have like--have been inaccurate? I mean let's go down the list of all the things every day that are inaccurate on CNN and MSNBC and then we can talk about fairness in the media.
(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG:... [I] mean, I know that people feel that, you know, all media is liberal. You know, if you live in the middle of America, you recognize that all media is not liberal. All media is not conservative. All media is not everything.
(...)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Joy, we've been talking about Fox and correcting untrue reports.
JOY BEHAR: Yeah.
GOLDBERG: What's your thought? How effective is it for folks to push these false narratives only to come back and have to correct it?
BEHAR: ... The other thing I want to point out, the reason we didn't discuss Hunter Biden on the show even though The Post pushed the story it was actually never vetted and never verified more likely by various news outlets. And there is -- maybe you can say there's a liberal bias but I watch a lot of news. Besides MSNBC there's no liberal bias. There is basically balance on most stations. Um, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, all of them have both conservatives and liberals. So I think that it's incorrect to say that there is a completely liberal bias and, therefore -- Fox and MSNBC are the only ones who are really on both ends of the spectrum, in my opinion.
