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person1947–

John Stossel

Disciplines:
journalism
libertarianism
abc
fox

Summary

American consumer affairs and libertarian journalist — ABC News 20/20 correspondent and co-anchor — Fox Business Network — whose career transformed from consumer advocate to free-market libertarian — author of Give Me a Break and No, They Can't.

Core Contribution

Creates the libertarian consumer journalism genre — Stossel's transformation (from consumer advocate who investigates corporate wrongdoing to free-market libertarian who investigates government wrongdoing) is the most dramatic on-air ideological evolution in major American broadcast journalism.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Was slapped by a professional wrestler on live television (David Schultz, 1984) while investigating steroid use in WWE — sued, won $425k, and the incident became the most famous on-air assault in American journalism history
  • Was the subject of a correction campaign by advocacy groups who challenged his climate and organic food reporting — the corrections by ABC made him the first major network journalist to be publicly fact-checked and corrected on environmental claims

Notable Works & Achievements

Give Me a Break

No, They Can't

Historical Influences

Milton Friedman Thomas Sowell

Intellectual Lineage

Chicago suburbsPrinceton KGW PortlandABC News 20/20Fox Business

Contemporaries & Peers

Barbara WaltersHugh Downs

Minds Influenced

Libertarian journalism

Intellectual Posterity

Give Me a Break No, They Can't

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John Stossel

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