John Stossel (born March 6, 1947) is an American television journalist for ABC. Stossel graduated from Princeton University with a BA in psychology in 1969, and was a member of Princeton Tower Club there. He began his journalism career as a researcher for KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon. His early years include jobs as consumer reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City and as consumer editor at ABC's Good Morning America. Stossel later became an ABCNEWS correspondent, joining the weekly news magazine program 20/20 in 1981. He became its co-anchor in May, 2003.
In 1984, while filming a segment on professional wrestling, Stossel told wrestler David "Dr. D" Schultz on camera that he thought wrestling was fake. Yelling "You think it's fake?", Schultz physically assaulted Stossel, knocking him to the ground. Stossel sued and won a settlement, rumored to be in the neighborhood of $425,000, claiming long-term injury as a result of the assault. Schultz was fired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), but he maintains that he was ordered to attack Stossel by representatives of the WWF.
In 20/20's "Give Me a Break" segment, Stossel takes a skeptical look at subjects ranging from government regulations and pop culture to censorship and unfounded fear. "Give Me a Break" was so popular that in 1994, it was spun off into a series of one-hour specials. Topics of these specials include:
"Stupid in America" (January 13, 2006) "Family Fix: Help! I've Got Kids" "Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death?" "Is America Number 1?" "You Can't Say That!" "Love, Lust, and Marriage" "The Mystery of Happiness" "Junk Science: What You Know That May Not Be So" "The Blame Game" "Boys and Girls Are Different" "Freeloaders" "Greed" "Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults". Stossel's views have often been controversial, and he is one of the few libertarians in mainstream media.
Stossel made an apology to his audience in 2000 after it was discovered that some of the research for a segment he ran discrediting organic foods was misleadingly and incorrectly cited.
