The Watchdog with David Bozell

Remember when, in 1992, Bob Schieffer closed CBS’s Face the Nation by saying, “Vote for Bill Clinton”?

Of course you don’t. Because that’s not what a “bona fide news interview program” does. 

But The View? Joy Behar told viewers outright: “Don’t vote for Trump. He’s dangerous.” Alyssa Farah Griffin declared: “I voted for a Democrat for the first time. I voted for Kamala Harris,” and urged viewers to do the same.

That’s not legitimate news. It’s electioneering.

Which brings us to Disney/ABC.

Earlier this year, the company asked the FCC to classify The View as a “bona fide news interview program,” putting it in the same legal category as Face the Nation. Why? Because that designation exempts the show from the FCC’s equal-opportunities rules, allowing it to keep giving favored candidates a platform while excluding others.

On May 22, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posed the question publicly: “The FCC is now seeking public comment on Disney’s request… Is The View a ‘bona fide news interview program’?”

We answered with an unequivocal no.

And we brought the receipts.

No one has documented The View more extensively than MRC. Nick Fondacaro, our resident View expert, has watched, cataloged, and analyzed years of episodes so the rest of America doesn’t have to. (Seriously. Someone get the man hazard pay.)

We filed an 18-page submission with the FCC laying out exactly why The View doesn’t belong anywhere near the “bona fide news interview program” category. We didn’t just make the case. We backed it with 2,473 pages of evidence documenting years of political advocacy, one-sided interviews, and partisan programming.

Then came another exhibit.

After an exclusive rollout with The Daily Wire, MRC released The View’s guest tally for Season 29: 87 liberals versus just 5 conservatives. And even that flatters ABC. Two of those five, Cheryl Hines and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, were generous calls.

The political breakdown was even worse: 16 Democrats to just 3 Republicans.

That’s technically an improvement over Season 28, when the show didn’t host a single Republican politician. But it’s still absurd for a program asking the FCC to recognize it as a “bona fide news interview program.”

The View isn’t conducting balanced news interviews. It’s producing a daily infomercial for the Democratic Party.

The FCC’s review is still underway, and MRC just handed regulators even more evidence to consider. We’ll keep exposing the show’s partisan activism and pressing our case until this charade is finally called what it is.

​​​​​​Take it easy, 

David Bozell
President