JOHN STOSSEL-20/20 FRIDAY 7/12/02 10PM - "HOW MEDIA FOOLS PUBLIC"

EMAIL ^ | 7/10/02 | JOHN STOSSEL

[Elkiejg]

From John Stossel:

This Friday's 20/20 is about us...fooling YOU. I host 20/20 this week--both Barbara and John Miller have a night off--and I'll use the hour to look at the how we (the media) may mislead you.

Sometimes the media distort pictures. I'll show you how. The Communists killed Trotsky and then removed him from Soviet photographs. Now computers make it easier. Remember when some people booed Hillary Clinton at a fund-raising concert after September 11th? MTV replayed the concert, but changed the boos to applause. TV Guide put Oprah Winfrey on its cover, but gave her Ann-Margret's body. Steven Spielberg took guns out of the remake of ET.

Of course, that's just entertainment. It's worse if NEWS organizations distort. I'll tell you what ABC News has done. And what I did. Even when we don't distort, we can still mislead by hyping tiny risks.

You heard about "road rage," but did you know there's no evidence of road rage increasing? The media reports were mostly based on--get this: a study of MEDIA REPORTS of road rage. It was circular logic.

And the reason for all those shark attack! reports last year was NOT an increase in the number of attacks, it was just hype! We'll show you how, and why.

And what aren't those glossy magazines telling you about those cars they love? Some important news. Maybe it was because the media are "on the take." Ok, not really "on the take," but we get influenced by people being nice to us, or giving us things, or advertising with us. We'll tell you about the cozy relationship between car magazines and car makers.

And did you hear about the the dog brothel (a cathouse for dogs!), and the cockroach that cured colds? All were hoaxes, OBVIOUS hoaxes, that nevertheless fooled the gullible media. I'll introduce you to the hoaxer, who tricks the media, he says, because he wants to show how intellectually lazy we are.

He has a point. Journalists work hard, but we are intellectually lazy when we focus on sharks rather than undertows; road rage, or car-jackings, rather than drunk driving. It's bad journalism, and as Bob Lichter of the Statistical Assessment Service puts it, bad journalism is worse than no journalism, because it leads people to think they know things, when they don't.

[Elkiejg]

This Friday's 20/20 might be a good show to watch!!! If nothing else to have the MTV Hillary tape exposed!! I have to give Stossel credit - he's not afraid to do the "unpopular" subjects. Do you think the books BIAS and SLANDER are having an impact???????

[aardvark1]

Maybe he was 'influenced' by those books' popularity.

[Right_in_Virginia]

JOHN STOSSEL is an incredibly brave man.

[ChadGore]

Re: "JOHN STOSSEL is an incredibly brave man."

I'm picturing John with his head in a lion.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'm guessing he'll be over at Fox soon.

[DeaconRed]

"JOHN STOSSEL is an incredibly brave man."

He sure is
If this actualy airs. My guess, it gets pulled, and never airs.
Hope I am wrong! ! ! !

[TomGuy]

John, John, John!

3 words:

Maher, Maher, Maher

[RightOnline]

Stossel.........trying to remember this guy; know the name. Is he the one that does the so-called in-depth look at issues on the news? The one that eviscerated Steve Forbes' flat tax plan with outright lies? IF that's not the same guy, apologies............

[Libertarian_4_eva]

Maybe he was 'influenced' by those books' popularity.

No Stossel has been attacking the media before it became fashonable to do so.

[FreedomPoster]

Stossel is the only guy in the lamestream media I will watch. Period. He gets it.

[kcordell]

Stossel has been attacking the media before it became fashonable to do so.

Stossel has already been vilified by his own network. If I remember correctly he had one segment pulled and another edited without his consent. It had something to do with Public Education. Not to mention the attacks from the Left-wing Radicals that he has endured. I've been a fan for a long time.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

You heard about "road rage," but did you know there's no evidence of road rage increasing?

I always loved the 'black churches burning' scare of a few years ago. Are they still burning?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I always loved the 'black churches burning' scare of a few years ago. Are they still burning?

Yeah, I remember Black churches burning when I was a boy growing up in Queens. I never understood why anyone would paint a church black, though.

[Jim Pelosi]

Right on. His shows are excellent. He has a way of cutting thru the hypocracy and B.S and calling peoples' bluffs.

[rohry]

"IF that's not the same guy, apologies............"

Yep, you need to apolgize. Stossel is a right-wing libertarian who challenges his network every time he is on. He's the one that exposed the agenda of middle-school "teachers" telling kids that the environment was getting worse every day because of evil conservatives and business owners. The network (ABC?) had to censor parts of his story.

[Kaslin]

I haven't watched 20/20 in ages, but this one is a must. (I just hope I remember to)

[Kaslin]

Here you go

[arete]

I like Stossel. I'll be watching. He does some good work.

Richard W.

[Motherhood IS a career]

Yes, he's a good guy. He is also, I believe, a member of the Cato Institute.

And yes, leftists hate him because he loves to expose their lies. They're always trying to get him fired.

[Copperhead61]

Maybe he and Britt Hume can join forces and become a media swat team. Lord knows the network news needs a a good house cleaning.