John Stossel
ABC News Correspondent, "20/20"
WHEN: Tuesday, April 4, 2000, 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Adam's Mark Hotel, 400 North Olive Street, Dallas, Texas 75207
TOPIC: "Pandering to Fear: The Media's Crisis Mentality" Every day newspapers and television warns us of new, unsuspected dangers in our complex modern world–from Alar and asbestos to cyclamates to the Audi 5000 and the Suzuki Samurai. With the world apparently getting more dangerous all the time, we have to wonder how life expectancy keeps on growing. ABC's John Stossel will discuss what the real risks in modern life are, why the media seem to hype unrealistic fears, and why readers and viewers fall for it.
John Stossel joined the ABC newsmagazine "20/20" in 1981. He began doing one-hour primetime specials in 1994, which have consistently rated among the top news programs when broadcast. The Dallas Morning News said Stossel is, "the most consistently thought-provoking TV reporter of our time."
John Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. Among his other awards are the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award.
Stossel's newest segment for "20/20," "Give Me a Break," takes a skeptical look at people who want to censor cartoons, regulate flagpoles, and have Congress rule on what prices are "fair."
In his early years at ABC, Stossel served as consumer editor at "Good Morning America." Prior to that, he was consumer editor for WCBS-TV in New York City. He began as a researcher for KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon. Stossel is a 1969 graduate of Princeton University with a B.A. in psychology.