Meghan McCain and Ana Navarro engaged in a fiery debate over media bias on Friday's episode of "The View," with Navarro vehemently defending the journalistic integrity of CNN, the network she frequently contributes to.
McCain opened the discussion by expressing disagreement with President Donald Trump's use of the word ‘enemy’ to describe the media.
"I don’t agree with that terminology because I use the word ‘enemy’ for things like ISIS, for people that are trying to inflict harm on the United States of America," McCain said, "but I will say when you are talking about media coverage and liberal media bias, it’s something that’s real and really exists."
McCain cited a Pew Research study from 2012 that showed President Barack Obama received significantly greater positive coverage than Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and said she "would rather have a conversation about why Republicans don’t have the same kind of fair and balanced media coverage that Democrats do than automatically jumping to terminology like ‘enemy.’"
Guest host Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ attorney, chimed in that Republicans "have a station that’s dedicated to their propaganda," referring to Fox News. McCain rebutted that the Democrats have CNN.
Navarro, a vocally anti-Trump Republican strategist and frequent CNN contributor, jumped in to defend CNN. "CNN tries to be very balanced. CNN has commentators on like me and every time I’m on, I'm on against somebody that is defending Trump." Navarro then referenced McCain’s past work at MSNBC.
"A very, very, very long time ago," McCain retorted.
"Okay, but it was part of your history. Well you just came for CNN knowing I’m a CNN-er," said Navarro, apparently taking McCain’s comments personally.
McCain clarified that her comments were not directed at Navarro and acknowledged CNN has some good journalists, such as Jake Tapper. Nevertheless, she added, "CNN does have a bias among Trump supporters and Republicans."
Navarro continued to press and started listing names of CNN journalists. "Jake Tapper is a hell of a journalist, Anderson Cooper is a hell of a journalist," she said.
Sunny Hostin asked McCain if she thought Fox News has a bias. McCain said that it does, but noted it is just one network.
"And so MSNBC where you worked does not have bias?" Navarro asked.
McCain responded that she has worked at Fox News, MSNBC, and now ABC, but questioned why that mattered. "Why are you re-litigating my career right now?" McCain asked Navarro. "Now I’m on ABC. I’ve worked on many networks."
"Because you’re attacking CNN, which is my career," Navarro responded before Joy Behar intervened to change the subject.
A study released by Pew Research earlier this year found only 21 percent of Americans who support the Trump administration believe news organizations do a good job of reporting different political opinions fairly. Among President Trump’s opponents, 55 percent thought the media reported fairly.