After recently defeating The View in the ratings, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner has opened up about her feelings on the long-running ABC talk show, saying it operates on “vitriol.”
In January, Faulkner’s daily program, The Faulkner Focus, which airs during the 11 am time slot, ended the month with an average total of 2.552 million viewers, just pipping The View, which averaged 2.508 million. This was notable, given The View airs on broadcast television, whereas The Faulkner Focus airs on cable.
In a new interview with DailyMail.com, Faulkner shared her thoughts on The View and its hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, and Alyssa Farah Griffin.
“I’ve seen it when there was a powerhouse journalist. When Barbara Walters was leading it,” she told the outlet. “But now, I don’t really know what the show is, apart from talk, talk, talk; a lot of combativeness.”
“We have lots of guests who feel spicy and passionate about what they say,” she continued. “That’s not unique to The View or to any other show that I’ve done. What I do think is unique to them is vitriol.”
Faulkner went on to say that she received advice from a news director early in her career, who told her, “You don’t have to shout breaking news, and you don’t have to shout the truth.”
“It’s not personal,” she added. “But you gotta have the chops to be able to do it. I’ve seen Sunny Hostin read so many apologies on the air recently for the legal exposure of some of the things that she and others have said on the show. That’s dicey.”
In November, Hosting was handed a legal note to read out on air after she blasted Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz over accusations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and was engaged in illegal sex trafficking.
Faulkner herself appeared on The View back in 2018 to promote her book, 9 Rules of Engagement: A Military Brat’s Guide to Life and Success. During the interview, Faulkner, who is in an interracial marriage with a Jewish man, Tony Berlin, said she was taken aback when Hostin brought up the topic of race.
“Sunny Hostin came after me,” she shared. “They had put a picture of my biracial children on a huge digital wall behind me, and she took the conversation to race. I knew my kids would be watching.”
“Whoopi goes, ‘You know what, let’s talk about the book.’ And I appreciated that,” Faulkner added, noting how Goldberg turned the conversation back on topic.
Speaking on what sets her show apart from The View, Faulkner said she believes The Faulkner Focus‘ “superpower” is that it’s live, unlike The View, which is pre-taped. She also said her show includes guests with diverse political views.
“I think that’s difficult to do if you only see the world myopically, and that’s the feeling that I get when I watch other shows, The View as an example,” she stated. “That isn’t to say that they don’t have people on with different opinions, but the shouting is coming from the left on that show.”
She concluded, “It looks like one of those anti-DOGE meetings or the hearings on Capitol Hill. Democrats right now are apoplectic and they’re shouting and they’re cussing at us.”
The Faulkner Focus, Weekdays, 11 am et, Fox News
The View, Weekdays, 11 am et, ABC
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
