April Ryan and Meghan McCain spar on ‘The View’ over political accusations against the press
The White House correspondent says that the President Trump has singled her out but she remains steadfast
This week, American Urban Radio Network’s White House correspondent, April Ryan, made an appearance on “The View” and spoke up about how the Trump administration regularly tries to set her up as an example to other journalists because she’s a black woman.
Thursday, during Ryan’s appearance, co-host Meghan McCain repeatedly insisted that the press has done just as much, if not more, to divide the country as the president. She also opined that a lot of people hate the media and agree with Trump that the press can’t be trusted.
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Ryan admitted that no one is perfect and that sometimes the media gets it wrong, but sometimes, “we are great.” She then cited CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux following a group of women who yelled at outgoing Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake after the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearing and taping it as an example of reporters “getting it right.”
After it was noted that in addition to the president, Ryan has also clashed with White House press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, host Joy Behar playfully asked, “There’s something about you, April. What is it?”
This was done to give the reporter a perfect set up to address the pink (or in this case Black) elephant in the room.
“Let me say this, let’s put it on the table,” Ryan replied, laughing with Behar. “I don’t back down. I’m not afraid.”
“I’m a black woman who is not perceived to be part of their base,” she continued. “So they use me as an example to show ‘this is what can happen to you’. What they fail to realize is it’s not about me, and I’m going to continue to do my job and that’s what they don’t like.”
When asked why the media is blamed for the political divide, @AprilDRyan says: "People don't understand or know what is fact and what is opinion now. We have to really be more cognizant of trying to lay out the facts first so people will know what we're talking about." pic.twitter.com/HSZH3z7DaX
— The View (@TheView) November 8, 2018
Ryan also agreed with sentiments that the president repeatedly “says nasty things about black women,” and listed a number of other African American women who have been attacked by Trump, including Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“It is a sad day when any reporter has to ask a sitting United States president if you are racist,” she said in reference to Trump’s dog whistle politics about white nationalism.
Co-host Sunny Hostin added, “I’ve always said the media is under attack. Now pipe bombs were sent to media figures. Your name was on the potential list of targets. You now have security, and you say the White House should pay for it.”
“Yeah, because they stirred it up,” Ryan replied. “If they get Secret Service protection on my taxpayer dollars and I’m getting death threats left and right because of the stir from the top, and I’m going to get in trouble for that, but so be it.”
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