According to new revelations published in the New York Times on July 31, ABC‘s John Stossel may have fabricated evidence and distorted facts in a February 4 “20/20” report on organic food. This is the latest in a long series of controversies over Stossel’s journalistic integrity.
In “The Food You Eat,” Stossel stated that tests ordered by ABC found no pesticide residue on either organic or conventional produce. But according to the Times article, the scientists that ABC hired now say they never tested any of the produce for pesticides. In other words, Stossel cited non-existent data as proof of his claim that organic foods are “no better and maybe worse” for consumers’ health.
Several groups, including FAIR, had previously voiced concerns about other aspects of Stossel’s report, including his presentation and interpretation of data, and his failure to disclose a primary source’s ties to the chemical industry. Yet ABC dismissed the numerous questions raised, and rebroadcast the report uncorrected on July 7. Since the latest revelation, ABC has issued a statement saying that it will look into the matter (New York Times, 7/31/00).
But Stossel has a long and troubling history of sacrificing accuracy to promote his ideology, and it’s hard to believe ABC is unaware of it. “I have come to believe that markets are magical and the best protectors of the consumer,” he once declared. “It is my job to explain the beauties of the free market” (Oregonian, 10/26/94).
Unfortunately, this enthusiasm for laissez-faire capitalism has too often led Stossel to neglect his actual job as a journalist– seeking truth and reporting it. So much so, in fact, that some journalists have been unwilling to work with him: Two of the three producers hired to work on Stossel’s 1994 special, “Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?” resigned in protest after 20/20 dismissed their research because it did not conform to the show’s “preconceived” anti-regulatory slant (Extra! Update, 6/94).
Here’s a sampling of some of Stossel’s notable distortions:
*In a one-hour Stossel news special, “Is America # One?” (9/19/99), one of Stossel’s main sources on Hong Kong claims that Hong Kong is “the only government in the world that makes a surplus, a big surplus.”
In fact, as FAIR pointed out in a September 28 action alert, 11 countries– including the U.S., which at the time had been running a federal budget surplus for more than a year– ran a budget surplus in 1998. In a written response to FAIR from Stossel “and some of his staff,” Stossel did not defend the accuracy of his show’s claim. Instead, he made a different one: that Hong Kong is the only country which consistently runs a budget surplus. Even on his new point, Stossel is wrong: Hong Kong ran a sizeable $4.4 billion deficit in 1998, according to the International Monetary Fund. And the government forecast a $4.7 billion deficit for 1999 (Agence France Presse, 3/3/99).
*In a 20/20 report on the allocation of medical research dollars by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “Lobbying for Lives” (10/11/99), Stossel claims that Parkinson’s disease kills more people than AIDS.
As pointed out by FAIR, this claim about Parkinson’s deaths is not supported by health officials or Parkinson’s researchers. The most recent (1997) mortality report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists HIV/AIDS as the 14th leading cause of death in America; Parkinson’s does not make the list, which includes the top 15 causes. Stossel did not reply to FAIR’s inquiry about what data he based his claim on. (FAIR Action Alert, 10/26/99)
*In “Greed with John Stossel,” a March 1998 hour-long special, Stossel claims that labor’s complaints about rising CEO salaries are unreasonable since “factory wages were up, too– up 70 percent” in the last 15 years, so workers hadn’t been hurt.
Actually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages for manufacturing workers had risen 55 percent since January 1983– but only if you don’t adjust for inflation. After that crucial adjustment is made, factory workers’ real wages have fallen by more than 6 percent since 1983. (Extra! Update, 4/98)
*In a 20/20 segment attacking public schools, Stossel stated that “the U.S. Education Department says that only one in five teachers feels prepared to teach to high standards.” (11/12/99)
Stossel appears to be referring to a Department of Education study released in January 1999. This study dealt with teacher preparedness, but it said nothing about teaching to “high standards.” Instead, it found that one in five teachers felt comfortable integrating high technology into classroom instruction. The Department of Education could find no study that more closely matched Stossel’s description; ABC refused to provide any more specifics. (FAIR Action Alert, 11/24/99)
No other television journalist is allowed to make free with the facts the way Stossel is, using network news as a soapbox to proselytize for their personal ideological views. Why has ABC rewarded Stossel for shoddy reporting by making him a star player on its news team?
