JOHN Stossel’s only got a few weeks to go before starting with Fox News, but he’s still talking about his old job.
“It was frustrating,” Stossel wrote on in a parting-shot blog posted on Townhall.com. “My vision and that of my producers were often not in harmony. Too many stories I thought were important . . . were not aired.”
Stossel spent 28 years with ABC News and does give the network credit for sticking with his different-drummer style for so long.
“When I did my first TV special, I pointed out that regulation itself, by stifling innovation, can make life less safe. Two producers angrily objected. . . .
“But give ABC credit. After bitter arguments, it ran the show, titled, ‘Are We Scaring You to Death?’ A news division’s vice president said, ‘I don’t agree with you, but it’s a valid intellectual argument that deserves to be made.’ We were all surprised when 17 million Americans watched.”
Still “too many stories I thought were important — such as the land theft called eminent domain, or the FDA’s endangering people’s lives by withholding life-saving drugs — were not aired,” he wrote.
“He has engaged, and occasionally enraged, our audience with thought-provoking opinions and analysis,” ABC News said in a statement after the blog was posted late Wednesday. “John has been an important part of the ABC News family for decades, and we will miss him.”
Stossel will do a weekly show for Fox Business Network and will be a contributor to the main Fox News Channel when he starts in a few weeks.