Fox host appearing at rallies opposing healthcare reform

By Kathleen Miller
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 -- 1:02 pm
Share on Facebook Stumble This!

fox news

A Fox News host is scheduled to make several appearances next week at events and forums where he will "discuss the dangers of government-forced health care," alongside the head of the anti-tax and anti-health care reform group Americans for Prosperity.

John Stossel, a former co-anchor of ABC's 20/20, is hosting a new show on the Fox Business Network called "Stossel," which is described as featuring "in-depth reports on domestic and international libertarian issues" like civil liberties, the business of health care and Social Security.

The network refers to Stossel as a journalist on its website---in fact, "one of the most talented and thought-provoking journalists in the field."

But some, like The Plum Line's Greg Sargent, wonder whether the network that "is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the White House over its legitimacy as a news outlet" should be allowing "one of its proudly touted journalists to participate in an event decrying Obama’s health care reform proposals as 'government-forced health care.'”

Story continues below...

Fox has been under attack for its alleged "fair and balanced" coverage since White House Communications director Anita Dunn recently said Fox operates as a "wing of the Republican Party."

Dunn's views were reinforced last weekend by several top Obama advisers, including David Axelrod who told ABC's "This Week" that “it’s not just their commentators, but a lot of their news programming if you watch, it’s really not news. It's pushing a point of view."

Stossel's appearance at anti-health care reform rallies, some blogs argue, undermines the arguments of people like Tucker Carlson, a Fox News Contributor,  who penned an item for The Daily Beast Friday saying "the Obama people aren’t at war with Fox because it’s conservative."

"They’re angry because Fox has embarrassed them," Carlson writes. "Its correspondents ask hard questions."

Stossel will join Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips and Peggy Venable, the group's Texas president, as well as Canadian small business owner Shawn Danko in Arkansas town hall events scheduled for Texarkana, Little Rock, and Jonesboro next Thursday.

Fox spokespeople did not respond to Raw Story's requests for comment.

Share this article:
  • Print this article!
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Story comments are below...
  • John
    John Stossel has lost it. I think it began many years ago when he did a segment on wrestling. One of the wrestlers punched him in the head and he hasn't been the same since. Too bad he's now become a Faux News whore.............
  • Raysure
    Stossel is a skank.
  • AnthonyLook
    This self loathing closet case must depend on traits other than his journalistic talents to have been around the news industry as long as he has. What a spineless GOP talking point drone. He is the male Malkin (though he is prettier). Talk about dithering, Cheney must have been thinking about Stossel. Where is a wrestler when you need one?
  • tortoise2
    Interestingly, John Stossel's brother Thomas is a Professor of Hematology at Harvard.

    It would be interesting to know Thomas's views on his brothers activities for this story. Although I wouldn't be too optimistic, since according to SourceWatch, Thomas is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute (a right-wing "think tank"). He also makes pots of cash consulting for Pharma and medical device companies. In his spare time, Thomas also writes articles railing against conflict of interest rules. LOL
  • keystonelonestar
    Stossel and FOX are a good fit. Stossel is too lazy to do research; FOX pulls everything out of its butt, therefore, no research is needed. Good all around.
  • ophkablozom
    Too creepy even for ABC means you go to Fox.
  • tcb99999999999
    There is no media in the USA any longer. Corporations own the media and the directive is ratings and profit. With those 2 being the measure the media in no way can do real reporting because it doesn't attract viewers. Deep investigative reporting would mean compromising the corporation and we all know we can't have that. What passes as news and media are simply entertainment. Case in point Michael Jackson's death. While agreed a lot of people want to know about this but really when were in 2 wars, an administration that isn't prosecuting war criminals, and Guantanamo is reporting about Jackson really what our media needs to be spending it's energy on. No, but it attracted viewers and therefore more money hence higher profits and an even less informed viewership. Oh for the days when the media actually didn't side with a belief system and focused on reporting.
  • truebluecoondog
    Why don't they just come out of the closet and call it Republican Viewpoint? I mean, it walks like a duck, acts like a duck, talks like a duck, so, call it a duck!

    Incidentally, I think that this back and forth name calling amongst the cable "news" networks is good for America as it exposes the truth behind the curtain....and it's kinda fun to watch too.
  • rickpetes
    The beauty of it is, for now, you can turn off the TV and get on line for news. At least until they screw net neutrality or something.
  • cliffhammond
    Just another reason for Barbara Walters to continue to hate him.
  • fukum
    If you check around, Stossel works for the Manhattan Institute also...check them out on sourcewatch.org
  • fukum
    Stossel is a SENIOR FELLOW at the Manhattan Institute to be more precise and they are funded in part by big insurance to spout their half-truths.

    Some funding;

    Between 1985 and 2005, the Institute received $20,629,883 (unadjusted for inflation) in a total of 296 grants from only nine foundations:[10]

    * Armstrong Foundation
    * Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation[11]
    * Brady Education Foundation, Inc.
    * Castle Rock Foundation
    * Earhart Foundation
    * F.M. Kirby Foundation
    * Gilder Foundation
    * Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation
    * Hickory Foundation
    * Jaquelin Hume Foundation
    * John Templeton Foundation
    * John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
    * JM Foundation
    * Koch Family Foundations (Claude R. Lambe Foundation)
    * Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
    * Randolph Foundation[12]
    * Roe Foundation
    * Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation
    * Scaife Foundations (Sarah Mellon Scaife, Carthage[13])
    * Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation
    * Smith Richardson Foundation
    * Walton Family Foundation
    * William E. Simon Foundation
    * William H. Donner Foundation

    [edit]
    Other affiliations

    * Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future (ITFIAF)[14]
    * State Policy Network[15]

    You can also check out Stossel at Sourcewatch where Al Franken nails him for his BS
  • nadia_Medt
    In this current state of Healthcare Crisis, I thought maybe you or your readers would like to check out this site called medtipster.com

    It's a free search engine where you can find discount generic prescriptions by simply typing in the name brand drug, dosage and your zip code. You can find them for as little as $4 and right in your neighborhood!
  • chabuka
    FOX (media/propaganda arm of the GOP) news considers all "minorities", even women, as unworthy and inferior to "White Male superiority...(Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly...) not to mention those who are not members of the right's rulling class or the extreme wealth class..(I found this definition of Fascism enlightening ....)
    Simply stated, a fascist government always has one class of citizens that is considered superior (good) to another (bad) based upon race, creed or origin. It is possible to be both a republic and a fascist state. The preferred class lives in a republic while the oppressed class lives in a fascist state.
  • greenglasses
    Now you're just talkin' shit...
  • Just because he attends the event to report on it, doesn't mean he is supporting or representing his opinion on the event....even if he is attending as a commentator he has a right to express his opinions on the issue....if he is attending as a journalist and reporting facts on the event he has every right to do so!!
  • fukum
    That's the problem, he shills for the insurance companies, he's been spouting their line ever since healthcare reform has come to the fore
  • terrymo1
    And they need a small business man from canada,why????
    What the hell does he know about the USA?
    Stossel the the child molester?
  • jlewd
    When did Freddy Mercury come back from the dead to work at Fox?
  • overdoneputaforkinit
    Fox News is the media arm of the Republican right wing. There is no longer any doubt.
blog comments powered by Disqus