Submitted by Laura Miller on
ABC News correspondent John Stossel comes under harsh scrutiny in a January 7, 2002 Nation article. Journalist Mark Dowie looks into Stossel's rise from humble consumer-interest reporter to million-dollar network star. As network news divisions were forced to become profit centers in early 90s, network executives wanted "talent" to sell the new news product. "Professional attention-grabbers ... became free-market winners. By cleverly blending blue-collar social values with Wall Street economic values, they got rich," writes Dowie. "And a handsome young Princeton graduate, confused about his politics but certain of his ambition, followed their lead. [Stossel] dropped the Naderite stories, became a hero of the libertarian right and got rich." PR Watch has also followed Stossel's journalistic endeavors, in which he regularly distorts and misrepresents the facts to the benefit of big business.
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