I thought the whole premise of the View was that it was a bunch of women spitballing and sharing their dumb opinions. Whoopi Goldberg is a comedian, or at least she was for a long time. I don't know why anyone would take the View as presenting itself as objective journalism or authoritative.
The show was definitely bad enough to make your ears bleed if you walked through a room with it on the television even for just 5 seconds; but I'm surprised they got defamation suits.
Defamation:
The view often states things as facts (truth claims), and not as mere opinion.
In the legal system, truth claims are treated differently than opinion claims.
So regardless of the genre of the show, if you state something as a "truth claim", you have much higher legal culpability than a mere opinion claim.
(To say "I think" or "I feel' is different than saying "it is so." One is a truth claim, one is an opinion.)
In General:
- With defamation, you have to prove the claim was false, and that it caused harm.
- With liable, you need to also prove the speaker KNEW it was false.
- With mere "opinion" statements, there is the defense it was never an actual "claim" to begin with.
* There are some differences state to state, and it can all get complicated and nuanced.
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