Barbara Walters: 'View' Is Not 'Meet The Press' (VIDEO)

Fans of "The View" may have noticed that the show's political coverage has dropped off significantly this season — a shift that Barbara Walters recently addressed.

The hosts have remained relatively mum about big political headlines, including the government shutdown and Obamacare drama, this season. In an interview that aired on Sunday's "MediaBuzz," Howard Kurtz asked Walters about the show's lack of coverage about the shutdown.

“'The View' is not 'Meet the Press,'” Walters said. "A lot of people do get their news from 'The View.' But it’s supposed to be entertaining and upbeat. I didn’t think the shutdown was entertaining or upbeat."

“But in the past, you've had a political impact,” Kurtz said. “During campaigns, you’ve had presidential candidates on."

“Sure, but it’s not a political show," Walters said. "It was never meant to be. The fact that you can have a daytime show and do newsworthy subjects — that is what was new,” Walters said. “The fact that you can have primarily women discussing, arguing, disagreeing, live, that’s what was new about this show.”

The current season of "The View," of course, has been rife with other changes: Jenny McCarthy joined the cast in September, after Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar left months earlier. The dropoff in political discussion comes after reports that research showed that audience members were turned off by Hasselbeck and Behar's partisan views.

(h/t Mediaite)