Tonight: John Stossel and Drew Carey Tackle Bailouts, Big Spending and Bull!
by Maura Flynn
Mainstream media coverage of crucial issues gives us plenty to complain about around here. Much like aerobic exercise, it jacks the heart-rate and makes me cranky (though if I’m going to spill my drink anyway, I’d rather do it while yelling at Chris Matthews. Call me a junkie).
But tonight is one of those rare opportunities to kick back and appreciate the fact that not every journalist on network TV is standing around the same water cooler.
Tonight on 20/20, John Stossel, (with special guest Drew Carey), tackles the conventional wisdom behind the huge bailouts, universal preschool, the myth of the struggling middle class, toll roads, medical marijuana and border walls. The episode was inspired by Drew Carey’s award-winning video series on Reason.tv.
More with Stossel and Carey here.
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65 Comments
Thanks for the heads up. Watching the "Gimme a Break" segments always seems like a pallate cleanser after a day of Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopolous and Terry Moran.
I's surprised Stossel held back this long. Did ABC management have him locked up in a closet somewhere?
And right before he (hopefully) blows the lid on this doom gloom next-Depression-if-we-don't-spend-NOW administration, suddenly the Obamaton logically decides that the economy isn't as bad as they thought.
Which will logically be blamed on using incorrect Bush administration economic figures. Of course.
You at least have to give ABC credit for allowing him to voice his opinions. He's never be allowed to do what he does on CBS and especially NBC. It's hard enough to get a consrvative POV but damn near impossible for a libertarian one.
They better be careful they don't make Jon Stewart mad.
Yes! I'm so glad someone is showing Stossel some support!
Actually, Stossel has produced a lot of good specials. You can find some of his excellent work here
It wasn't bad yesterday – let's see how the market does today.
For a guy who doesn't like to monitor the day to day gyrations of the markets, he does have a lot to say.
And is anyone else taking issue with the statement yesterday chiding the CEOs for creating boom and bust? For Pete's sake, isn't that what a dynamic thriving economy does – what is the alternative statist plodding bureaucracy?
You echo my thoughts on the news media Maura Considering all of the huge issues looming we really get vapid coverage – unless the subject is Britney Spears…
Will watch it tonight – thanks for the heads up
If Fox News ever wants to be taken seriously, they would hire John Stossel to create an investigative branch.
Stossel may be one of the few last standing true journalists out there! 2008 was the year Journalism
in the main stream media DIED< RIP.
Agreed.
Can't wait to see it! If they are a good pairing, I hope they continue working together.
I guess the Disney ownership is a good thing, as they are an Entertainment Business, dependent on people having disposable income. Stossel likes to rail against big government control, thus espouses what business likes to hear, and good running businesses put that money in their patrons' pockets. It's a good symbiotic relationship. As opposed to the other networks who run "citizen-serving NEWS organizations" and are above such things…
(…and how did I not catch the "I's" instead of "I'm" above…)
Boom and bust is created almost wholly by the Fed's manipulation of interest rates and credit. A true free market lacks our all-too-common whacked-out periods of fake "prosperity" followed by crashes because a true free market is driven by sensible investment–not easy credit.
But since a central bank allows people from both sides of the political spectrum to spend money that doesn't really exist, don't expect the issue of the Fed to be addressed anytime soon. A central bank is a statist's wet dream.
Former ABC investigative reporter with consumer news emphasis now working with Fox News: Geraldo Rivera.
Think about it.
Stossel would mop the floor with that fake wanna be news anchor, just as he has done with Rob Kennedy Jr, and Michael Moore. Stewart doesnt have the marbles to go after Stossel, because he isn't an easy target.
He forgot to mention who in the government created all of those bubbles that burst…but if it ain't on the teleprompter, he wont say it.
He'll show up on O'Reilly once in a while. He handed Robert Kennedy his own arse in a global warming debate one time, it was great. I know Sotssel has been working on his Stossel In the Classroom videos. Thank god kids might actually get some sense from someoen that isn't a government employed former hippie liberal.
I think Fox has been trying to be more provocative, and I like it. I saw Glibert Godfreid on Hannity a while back and I would never hav thought that Fox would let him get away with some of the thinsg he said. It's like they are trying to show how uppidy CNN and that other cable news channel are.
Glenn Beck even debated a guy from the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. The other networks would be afraid to have them on as it might show how in line Hopey and the progressives really are with their agenda.
I think Fox has been trying to be more provocative, and I like it. I saw Glibert Godfreid on Hannity a while back and I would never have thought that Fox would let him get away with some of the things he said. It's like they are trying to show how uppidy CNN and that other cable news channel are.
Glenn Beck even debated a guy from the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, and made fools of them. The other networks would be afraid to have them on as it might show how in line Hopey and the progressives really are with their agenda.
Yeah I was being sarcastic.
Stossel would mop the floor with Stewart, sure, in a fair debate.
But Stewart would never agree to a fair debate. He'd catch Stossel off guard, and coldcock him.
L4L, I'm talking about Fox becoming an actual respected news source, which they aren't today. At this point, Fox's news consists entirely of T&A anchors reading wire service reports and then spinning an opinion. Between those shows, they bring on political people to do television versions of talk radio. There is no substance to Fox at all.
I see your point, but Fox isn't the only network that lacks substance. It's sad, but now the first thing I have to ascertain about people that deliver the news is what party they support, and then I know how to read or listen to what they are saying…and it shouldn't be that way.
I'm not worried about attracting the left of center, I'm one of those people who doesn't want their news to be filtered by political considerations. I want a news service that provides me with facts. I want a news service that investigates things I need to know about and exposes them to me. Fox does none of that.
Fox does not produce its own news, it just reads wire service reports. I can get those on-line a lot quicker and a lot more accurately (Fox shortens the reports to keep them simple). Fox does not do investigative journalism — other than puff pieces. They will never uncover a government fraud or expose a defective missle system, because they just don't do that kind of work. I want a news service that does that. Fox rarely asks hard questions of people it likes. It's interview segments are ADD short, involve too much anchor opinion, and are generally not informative. These are the types of things Stossel has done for years at ABC.
Keep in mind that NBC is owned by GE. Not much comes from there that could be considered pro-business.
Hey, that central bank ties us together as one economy, not 50+ little ones, it's the anchor point. That stability has saved this country many times. It's government policies that overwhelmingly cause boom-and-bust more so than anything else. "Sensible investment" was thrown out by Frank, Dodd, and crew.
That said, we should never have a central World Bank, it's not smart to have 100+ boats all tied to the same anchor when a storm rolls in. Crunch.
Oh, and the politicians would be spending non-existent money with or without a central bank, it's what they do.
Knight Rider, sponsored by Ford.
MSNBC, originally brought to you by the world's richest man, who sure knows something about marketing hope and an airy dream in the face of disappointing reality after a long-running "change is coming" hype campaign, with a "ram it down your throat and make you like it" business strategy.
Then comes CNBC.
Not always "business as we like to see it," but…
I guess you have missed the multiple hour-long (or sometimes two-hour) pieces FNC has done in trying to open eyes and expose Islam as the not-so-religion-of-peace. You would never see these programs on any other network because the others are beholden to their politically correct viewers.
Tony Snow.
Stossel and Carey. I'm not too sure, but if it works, it works.
You guess wrong. I saw those, but (1) they were far shallower than the exposé done by the National Geographic Channel or Front Line on the same topic and (2) there was nothing new in the Fox reports — they were just summations of various prior reports packaged as a new piece. Not to mention, one example of an "investigative" report out of ten years of news is pretty weak
I'm not saying that the other networks are better, they're not. But Fox is offering very shallow product to us. As a conservative, I believe that Fox is squandering an opportunity to seize the agenda and help re-shape the news media.
Actually, I did see those. And they were far shallower than the exposés done by the National Geographic Channel or Front Line on the same topic. All Fox did was repackage various prior wire service reports as an exposé.
I'm not saying that the other networks are better, they're not. But that doesn't change the fact that Fox is offering very shallow product to us, and that we accept it because there is no other conservative alternative.
Sadly, Fox is squandering a golden opportunity here. If they tried harder, they could redefine news and give the words "journalistic integrity" some meaning again. But that's going to take a re-think of what they do.
Okay, Andrew, I'm calling you on this one. Show me ONE wire service report that matches a FOX news story. And you can't use common news like "The President gave a speech on the economy today" that everyone uses. You're just talking off the top of your head and we know it.
"I’d rather do it while yelling at Chris Matthews." – I find myself doing this if I ever get bored and watch his show (not often in the last year). Usually it's me telling Chris to "Shut the hell up and let your guest finish their answer to your three minute long question, you rambling, egotist!!" Chrissy never listens to me or anybody, but alas, neither the majority of members in the Church of Liberalism.
"I’d rather do it while yelling at Chris Matthews." – I find myself doing this if I ever get bored and watch his show (not often in the last year). Usually it's me telling Chris to "Shut the hell up and let your guest finish their answer to your three minute long question, you rambling, egotist!!" Chrissy never listens to me or anybody, but alas, neither does the majority of members in the Church of Liberalism.
He was a great man. May he rest in peace.
You're seriously going to tell me that you don't know that ALL television news channels and all newspapers make extensive use of wire services? Somehow you've never seen the little "AP" on the scroller or you've never heard the anchors say, "Reuters is reporting…"?
I've already seen most of the Reason.tv segments and they are all great. Even if you don't agree with the positions thay take, at least they approach the issue from logical POV instead of the tired emotional rhetoric that you see from the likes of…well, just about every major media outlet. Stossel is one of the few that actually looks at what works and what doesn't; not just at the good intentions of failed policies.
Spot on – the two that come to mind are the Telecom boom and the housing boom. Both brought to us via government intervention.
I disagree. It would take a hell of a lot more than just Stossel to take Fox News seriously. For pity's sake, if Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, Carl Cameron, and Jim Angle can't build them cred with anyone left of center, nothing will. Can't see that it matters much though considering they trounce everyone else put together in the ratings.
Well, I like a lot of the points that Drew Carey brings up, but the videos are pretty amateur, so hopefully Stossel can put a touch of professional journalism into them.
You notice Stewart never goes anywhere else, just stays on his show where he can control the venue.
Mathews is a first class A**. A real embarrasment to the world of journalism.
Agreed. Between Matthews and Olberman, MSNBC might as well turn into a (bad) comedy channel because they've got no credibility as a news channel.
Agreed. Between Matthews and Olberman, MSNBC might as well turn into a (bad) comedy channel because they've got no credibility as a news channel.
Hey Bruce, how come you never signed up for the intensedebate thing? It's actually kind of cool.
dear sponsors of 20/20. We'll be watching this evening.
Boom and Bust created by the fed? They try and manipulate the economy to aviod Bust but can only delay it. Human Nature not sound investmenst and also innovation causes as many busts as booms. It is where we get creative destruction. Industries come and go, Investment schemes come and go. This all happens in a Free Market Economy. Too much or too little regulation alters the cycle. The cycle is unavoidable but is somewhat predictable. Trying to stop the cycle always makes things worse.
All network news divisions or Cable News Networks are just news readers. Remember the days when we would actually get 1 hour Investigative Reports or 1/2 Hour Analisys? It is all packaged to be seen in 8 minute increments. It seems today if you try an do in depth viewers turn the channel. The Evil Remote Control is responsible for a National Case of ADD. I might be wrong but I have to go to another site.
I agree, but I htink the problem is really with us. Stay on target and the channel surfers tune out. It is still a profit oriented business. The constant repeats and news stories I saw 1 to 2 days earlier on the nets is not news, but where can we get our fix? Fox needs to do what CNN did and create the headline division and then the long format division. With a little creativity and good reporters/producers let to run free this might be possible.
The live online stuff is by far the best at Fox
Don't be so restrictive. He is just a real embarrasement to the World.
I watched the segment of the 20/20 show regarding the government leasing certain roads, or sections thereof, to private companies. The question is: Who can run them better, Government or private companies?
Government seems to be less efficient in running anything – they don't have to show profits or please anyone. Government simply needs to FEEL good about doing things they FEEL is of good intent – they care less about the actual results.
Private companies need to please the customers, in this case the drivers and the goverment, as well as show a profit. In order to please the customer, the traffic needs to flow smoothly. Worth a shot, nothing could be worse than traffic in L.A..
I think you're right. I think most of them lack substance at this point, and I think, sadly, that most of them twist their news through ideological filters.
Something amazing happened tonight. John Stossel made me change my mind.
Guess we should have "medical marijuana" after all. Keep it controlled and with a prescription, and I'd rather have it be with FDA oversight and never OTC, and it wouldn't be that bad. Sure there'd be abuse, we've already heard of it being prescribed for sore joints etc, but then so is Percocet, Vicodin, and a host of others. Bring the trade out into the light, and see just how much good can be done and how much bad can be done away with.
Which no way in hell is an endorsement of full legalization, BTW.
Stossel is one of the few true journalists out there.
The special was interesting but Drew Carey was a stoned buffoon. As for Fox, I like most of their shows but Sean Hannity is starting to look like a windup robot. And I'm irked that he ripped off a piece I did here and gave no credit. They're still more instereting than morons like Chris Matthews and George Stephanopoulos, to say nothing of the MSNBCreeps crowd.
Amen !
I prefer No Spin Zone….
That's a really good idea actually. I just hope someone from Fox is listening. Especially now that they're lined up with the Wall Street Journal, they could put together a pretty impressive news channel.
Which piece did he rip off Skip?
As I said above, I don't have problems with Fox per se, but I think they're missing a huge opportunity to return journalism to a more professional state. The other guys you mention, I don't even think of them as news people.
I wrote a piece here on Feb. 8 comparing FDR's first fireside chat with Obama's three announced TV addresses to the nation, which didn't happen the way Obama planned. This week Hannity ran a piece in which he played that FDR fireside chat and constrasted it with the banks then (all closed) and now. I've seen no one else in the media make this comparison. This week or perhaps earlier, Hannity "defriended" me on Facebook. I'm beginning to think it's a lot more about Sean Hannity for him than it is about the truth.
Wow, that is a little too coincidental. And I agree, I haven't heard that comparison anywhere else.
Sadly, this doesn't surprise me. I agree with your assessment of Hannity — I have always considered him a major self-promoter and a blow hard.
Hannity is tiring. Same yada yada yada all the time. I listen to his radio show only long enough to see if he has an interesting guest on the phone. Other than that, it's like listening to a Democratic Party Representative yammering talking points. How did he get to second place? I haven't watched his show (may have napped through it) since they ditched Colmes.
Which viewpoint is the only one that makes sense, but of course 180 degrees out from what the dopeheads actually want – full laissez-faire legalization (which can be ascertained when you start asking them simple questions).
Wow, have you heard about the Sean Hannity / Skip Press feud…it's crazy! : )
(Perpetuating a feud to help my pal Skip out)
I have to agree with comments regarding Hannity. He also gives credit to John McCain for the "Generational Theft Act" line, and it was Michelle Malkin who used it first. He also kisses @ss with all the libs on his show. I think he is a decent guy, but maybe the star thing has gone waaay to his head? Methinks it's time to take a pin to his balloon.
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