3 Comments to 'John Stossel has GOT to be kidding'
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John Stossel has GOT to be kidding
Posted By katie allison granju
Dr. Helen recounts some recent remarks by ABC’s John Stossel:
I read with interest a short question and answer session with John Stossel in TownHall magazine on how he became the lone libertarian in broadcast news. One question posed by Mary Katherine Ham asked “Is the media as hostile to conservative ideas as a lot of conservatives seem to think, or does your success belie that idea?”
Stossel replies, “I would say it’s as hostile as most believe it is. Remember, I came in as a liberal, and I was trying to be what I thought was objective. I certainly did not do the point-of-view reporting as I do now. I’m the, to my knowledge, lone libertarian in the mainstream media, and I take some heat for that. To my knowledge there are zero conservatives…on the networks.”
Let me go on the record as saying I find what Stossel just said to be patently absurd.
Admittedly, I don’t work at the network level as Stossel does - I work in a newsroom at a local affiliate. However, that affiliate is owned by one of the biggest news organizations in the world, Gannett. And our station is an NBC affiliate. Thus, I deal with folks on a regular basis - execs and producers and reporters and editors and photographers - who are working at the network/national press level. Additionally, I freelance pretty regularly for major magazines and newspapers, and have for years. I am the author of a book published by one of the country’s biggest publishers. Last, both of my parents - and my grandmother- were working journalists as I was growing up.
In other words, I know more than a few folks who make a living in the American media.
And for Stossel to make the incredibly hyperbolic claim that there are “zero conservatives” at the network level in American media simply isn’t true. In fact, I work with and have worked with a number of people at every level of the press who in their personal political views are most certainly conservatives. In fact, I even know more than a couple self-proclaimed libertarians lurking about newsrooms across the country.
I’m sure it makes Stossel a more valuable commodity - in his own mind and among certain niche news outlets - to believe he’s the lone conservative voice in American television media. After all, if you are the only one of anything, it makes you more interesting and desirable.
But seriously. It’s gonna be news to all the right-leaning journalists I know to hear that they don’t actually exist.
Mar 21st, 2008
I didn’t RTFA and basically repeated what you said on twitter. ;-p Great minds and all that.
But yeah, Stossel’s making a lot off being “libertarian” these days. He’s got a vested interest in maintaining that cache’.
A libertarian is not a conservative.
Please don’t be yet another journalist who doesn’t understand political science at all.
Political beliefs do not exist upon one axis as you and many other glib journalists seem to believe. There is a lot more than just conservatives and liberals. Most political scientists would say that political beliefs are mapped on at least two axes.
You can take this quiz to see what I’m talking about: http://www.politopia.com/quiz_index.php3
“But seriously. It’s gonna be news to all the right-leaning journalists I know to hear that they don’t actually exist.”
Name one network journalist who is a conservative. Network, not local affiliate.