The Watchdog with David Bozell

Today, Vice President J.D. Vance will appear on ABC’s The View, a program that describes itself as “bona fide news.”

Around the halls of MRC, we have a less formal name for it: “The Cackle.”

The same panel that has spent years calling Vance a “sociopathic” liar will now sit across from him for an interview. These are the same hosts who suggested he and Elon Musk were plotting to remove President Trump, mocked his name, and blamed Trump and Vance for the political climate surrounding the assassination attempts against President Trump.

The challenge for The View is that its hosts often seem convinced they are conducting a tough, serious interrogation when, in reality, they are usually repeating the same media narratives that NewsBusters spends every day correcting.

A serious news program should be interested in hearing different points of view. Last year, The View hosted 128 liberal guests and just two conservatives. One was Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was already publicly feuding with President Trump. The other was Cheryl Hines, who is not primarily known as a conservative but appeared as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s wife.

That does not sound like a panel looking for a debate. It sounds like a panel looking for agreement.

Nobody expects Vice President Vance to receive soft questions. He shouldn’t. But serious journalists approach an interview with curiosity, not with a verdict already written.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview will not be the questions Vance is asked. It will be whether the hosts are willing to examine the assumptions behind their own.

Either way, NewsBusters will be watching. And we’ll have the receipts.

​​​​​​​Take it easy, 

David Bozell
President