# John Stossel
**John Stossel** (John Frank Stossel, born 1947) is an American consumer television personality, author, and libertarian pundit known for a broadcasting career that ran from pioneering consumer reporting at ABC News to a weekly Fox Business program and, since 2019, his own independent video outlet, Stossel TV.[1](https://www.freedomcircle.com/individual/stossel-john) • [2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) He has won 19 [Emmy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/emmy-awards) and is the author of several best-selling books, including *Give Me a Break* (2004).[3](https://www.independent.org/multimedia/2015/01/23/john-stossel-confessions-of-a-media-maverick/?media=audio) • [2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947, as John Frank Stossel[1](https://www.freedomcircle.com/individual/stossel-john) |
| Education | Princeton University, B.A. in psychology, 1969[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) |
| ABC News (1970s–2009) | Consumer editor on *Good Morning America*, 20/20 correspondent from 1981, coanchor from 2003; creator of the "Give Me a Break" segment[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) |
| Fox years (2009–2016) | Anchor of the weekly libertarian-focused program *Stossel* on Fox Business Network[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) |
| Awards | 19 Emmy Awards, five National Press Club honors for consumer reporting, George Polk Award, George Foster Peabody Award[3](https://www.independent.org/multimedia/2015/01/23/john-stossel-confessions-of-a-media-maverick/?media=audio) |
| Current work | Host and creator of Stossel TV; founder of the school program Stossel in the Classroom[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) |
| Political rating | AllSides rates him Lean Right (confirmed April 2025); Media Bias/Fact Check rates johnstossel.com Right-Center, Mostly Factual[5](https://www.allsides.com/news-source/john-stossel-media-bias) • [6](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/johnstossel-com-bias-and-credibility/) |
## Early career and consumer reporting
Stossel graduated from Princeton University in 1969 with a B.A. in psychology and began in television as a researcher for KGW in [Portland, Oregon](https://www.edgepedia.org/portland-oregon), before moving to WCBS in New York City as a consumer reporter.[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) In his own account, that first Portland job was where he "helped invent TV consumer reporting," confronting con artists with hidden-camera footage, putting some out of business, and helping send the worst offenders to jail.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/)
At ABC News he became consumer editor for *Good Morning America* and a correspondent for *20/20* in 1981.[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) His occasional segment "Give Me a Break," in which he skeptically examined subjects from education to government regulation, became a regular feature, and in 1994 it was expanded into a series of one-hour prime-time specials with consistently strong ratings; ABC named him a coanchor of *20/20* in 2003.[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) His exposes of con artists and corporate wrongdoing earned him 19 Emmy Awards, five National Press Club honors for consumer reporting, a George Polk Award, and a Peabody Award.[3](https://www.independent.org/multimedia/2015/01/23/john-stossel-confessions-of-a-media-maverick/?media=audio)
## Shift to libertarianism
**The change of view.** Stossel describes an "epiphany" after years of consumer reporting: he concluded that business does much less harm than big government, and that competition restrains business better than government regulators do.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) In a 2005 [Fox News](https://www.edgepedia.org/fox-news) interview he said he had spent his consumer-reporting years "bashing business... seeing capitalism as the problem," and that his outlook changed as he examined what government did instead.[7](https://www.foxnews.com/story/john-stossels-change-of-heart) He rejects the "conservative" label the mainstream media applied to him once he began defending free markets, calling "libertarian" the better term for his beliefs.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/)
For years he held a singular place among broadcast network news correspondents: he was allowed an explicit point of view. Richard Wald, one of his former bosses at ABC, said this made him a valuable counterpoint to reporting that relied on unexamined liberal assumptions.[8](https://www.kpbs.org/news/national/2009/12/11/uneasy-at-abc-stossel-finds-home-at-fox-business) A 2000 *Brill's Content* profile noted that he was the only correspondent in *20/20*'s history with his own weekly segment, and recorded the criticism he drew from Jeff Cohen of the liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), which called his government-skeptical reporting one-sided.[9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Communications/Brill%27s-Content/Brill%27s-Content-2000-03.pdf) • [10](https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/stossels-shoddy-reporting-on-government-waste/)
## Fox Business years
Stossel left ABC after 28 years, saying that *20/20* refused to air some of his segments about free markets; on his ABC blog he wrote that he was leaving to "dig into the meaning of the words 'liberty' and 'limited government'" at the financial news cable channel.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) • [11](https://assets.pewresearch.org/files/journalism/State-of-the-News-Media-Report-2010-FINAL.pdf) Sources differ slightly on the timing: AllSides states he joined Fox News in 2008 after 28 years at ABC, while the [Fraser Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/fraser-institute) and contemporaneous reporting place his move to the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network in 2009, effective that October.[5](https://www.allsides.com/news-source/john-stossel-media-bias) • [4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) • [1](https://www.freedomcircle.com/individual/stossel-john)
At Fox he hosted the weekly program *Stossel* (2009–16), focused on libertarian issues, wrote the blog "John Stossel's Take," and served as a special series host.[4](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel) He said Fox never restricted what he could say, in contrast with the "hundred meetings" about appropriateness at ABC.[8](https://www.kpbs.org/news/national/2009/12/11/uneasy-at-abc-stossel-finds-home-at-fox-business) He left Fox Business in 2016 and subsequently worked with the journalist fellowship program at the Charles Koch Institute.[12](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Stossel)
## Stossel TV and education projects
Stossel says he gave up his Fox show to explain liberty and free markets to young people who watch short videos rather than television.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) Stossel TV produces at least one video per week from a small Manhattan studio, and each video averages more than two million views.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) His verified social media accounts have reached about 1.2 million followers on Facebook and 1 million on Twitter.[13](https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Deny-Deceive-Delay-Vol.-2.pdf)
The related nonprofit Stossel in the [Classroom](https://www.edgepedia.org/classroom), run by former New York City high school teacher Rob Schimenz and administered through the Center for Independent Thought, supplies teacher guides, online quizzes, contests, and a "Both Sides" section with opposing views; Stossel states that about 10 million students a year now discuss liberty and free markets in class through it.[2](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/) • [12](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Stossel)
## Ratings, criticism, and fact-check disputes
AllSides rates Stossel Lean Right, a rating a three-person panel of left, center, and right reviewers confirmed in an April 2025 editorial review, with medium confidence. The rating reflects his libertarian views: right-leaning on fiscal issues, left of center on social matters such as legalization of marijuana, gambling, prostitution, gay marriage, and assisted suicide.[5](https://www.allsides.com/news-source/john-stossel-media-bias) Media Bias/Fact Check rates johnstossel.com Right-Center with "Mostly Factual" reporting, noting that his presentation is typically one-sided in favor of free-market capitalism.[6](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/johnstossel-com-bias-and-credibility/) His work has been criticized by progressive organizations including FAIR, Media Matters for America, and Salon.[5](https://www.allsides.com/news-source/john-stossel-media-bias)
**Fact-checking disputes.** In 2020 [Climate Feedback](https://www.edgepedia.org/climate-feedback) attached a fact-check rating to his Facebook video "Government Fueled Fires"; Stossel published a response video calling the rating inappropriate, and the scientists who had reviewed the video, Zeke Hausfather and Stefan Doerr, agreed the rating was appropriate, finding that non-climate factors cannot account for the enormous increase in area burned by wildfire in the American West and California.[14](https://climatefeedback.org/responding-to-stossel-tv-video-on-our-rating-process/) Stossel then sued Facebook, and a motion to dismiss in that case records his complaint that the platform's fact-check flags attributed to him a claim he never made, that "climate change doesn't cause forest fires."[15](https://thenhf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CV19_The_Science_We_Should_Know.pdf)
## References
1. [John Stossel, Freedom Circle](https://www.freedomcircle.com/individual/stossel-john)
2. [Why I created Stossel TV, Stossel TV About page](https://www.johnstossel.com/about/)
3. [John Stossel: Confessions of a Media Maverick, Independent Institute](https://www.independent.org/multimedia/2015/01/23/john-stossel-confessions-of-a-media-maverick/?media=audio)
4. [John Stossel, Fraser Institute](https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/john-stossel)
5. [John Stossel Media Bias, AllSides](https://www.allsides.com/news-source/john-stossel-media-bias)
6. [JohnStossel.com Bias and Credibility, Media Bias/Fact Check](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/johnstossel-com-bias-and-credibility/)
7. [John Stossel's Change of Heart, Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/story/john-stossels-change-of-heart)
8. [Uneasy at ABC, Stossel Finds Home at Fox Business, KPBS Public Media](https://www.kpbs.org/news/national/2009/12/11/uneasy-at-abc-stossel-finds-home-at-fox-business)
9. [Brill's Content, March 2000](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Communications/Brill%27s-Content/Brill%27s-Content-2000-03.pdf)
10. [Stossel's Shoddy Reporting on Government Waste, FAIR](https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/stossels-shoddy-reporting-on-government-waste/)
11. [State of the News Media Report 2010, Pew Research Center](https://assets.pewresearch.org/files/journalism/State-of-the-News-Media-Report-2010-FINAL.pdf)
12. [John Stossel, SourceWatch](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Stossel)
13. [Deny, Deceive, Delay Vol. 2, Institute for Strategic Dialogue](https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Deny-Deceive-Delay-Vol.-2.pdf)
14. [Responding to Stossel TV video on our rating process, Climate Feedback](https://climatefeedback.org/responding-to-stossel-tv-video-on-our-rating-process/)
15. [Motion to Dismiss Complaint, John Stossel v. Facebook (excerpted in COVID-19: The Science We Should Know)](https://thenhf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CV19_The_Science_We_Should_Know.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Broadcasting and journalism › Broadcast organizations and stations › Broadcasters as people › Broadcast journalists and news presenters › American broadcast journalists and news presenters › ABC News journalists and anchors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license