My wife just brought this to my attention. Apparently John Stossel flat out made up a story critical of the organic foods industry, suggesting that organic foods were more likely to display evidence of the e. coli bacteria. He also argued that non-organics (rocks, I guess... j/k) had no traces of pesticides. HELLO. Talk about squashing a fledgling industry as it just starts to get on its feet. I suppose 20/20 paid its dues, if in fact anyone knows about this story... because it seems to destroy any credibility the show has earned over the past 30 years (or however long its been around ). ------------------ "Everyone I know has a big but... come on Simone, let's talk about your but." [This message has been edited by Achebe (edited October 14, 2000).]
This gives me a new opinion on our weekly "is the media biased" debate. I have long hoped that the media would monitor itself, that biased reporters would be thrown out of the industry. But, with the advent of sensationalistic bs journalism, I admit that I have been wrong (though in this example the reporter is a conservative). Stossel is clearly biased and yet ABC's 20/20 refuses to fire him. Pathetic. ------------------ "Everyone I know has a big but... come on Simone, let's talk about your but."
Consumer-based journalism has a history of biased and outright false reports. Stossel is merely the latest reporter caught fudgoing the truth for his stories. I'm surprised you're just hearing about this. I recall Mr. Stossel going on the air and half-heartedly apologizing for the "mistake" in the story regarding organic foods. It was several weeks ago. The bad thing is, though, 20/20 is not alone. One can find any number of examples of very poor journalism practiced at any of the newsmagazine shows. From the rigged Audi 5000 tests at 60 Minutes to the Incidiary Devices at Dateline to the rigged Jeep rollover tests at 60 Minutes and even to the Food Lion expose where undercover producers themselves were reponsible for some of the things they reported as being Food Lion's fault and some of the things were tricky editing to make it look like a Food Lion employee was saying something that they weren't and beyond, the newsmagazine shows have been known to fudge the truth in pursuit of what they consider a good story. Sometimes the stories end up having good results (car manufacturers put shift-locks in many of their automatic transmission equipped cars. Such shift-locks essentially eliminated unintended acceleration. That simply safety device likely wouldn't have been developed had people not been stepping on the wrong pedal and killing their loved ones and blaming their car for the tragedy. Granted, nearly putting an auto company out of business simply because their drivers misuse the cars probably wasn't necessary. And perhaps had 60 Minutes reported the story straight rather than rigging up a car so it would accelerate without anyone pushing the gas pedal, those same good results could've been achieved without nearly running a company which had done nothing wrong out of business.), but most times, the stories are just misleading or downright false and do nothing but scare people unnecessarily. ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
This furor over Stossel's report has been going on for quite a while, now (I think his original report aired in February). I saw the original report and remember thinking at the time that is seemed completely slanted -- but that's not surprising since most of Stossel's stories are. It was one of his "Give Me a Break" segments where he goes after things he doesn't like -- in this case organic foods. I think the thing I found most unsettling was Stossel's choice of anti-organic spokesman Dennis Avery. During the segment, Stossel presented Avery as an unbiased former researcher for the USDA. According to Stossel, during the course of his research, Avery reluctantly came to the conclusion that organic foods are no better for you than conventionally produced foods. Stossel failed to mention that Avery is the Director of the Center for Global Food Issues for the Hudson Institute (Hudson identifies many of its corporate sponsors on its website, including AgrEvo, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto Company, Novartis Crop Protection, and Zeneca - the very companies whose bottom lines are most threatened by organic agriculture.) Avery is also the author of such books as "Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming." Obviously, not the unbiased researcher one would have hoped for. But none of this was mentioned during the course of the story and avery was given free rein to trash the organics industry, with only minimal rebuttal. It was, basically, an ambush. As far as the faulty test results, mr. paige is correct, Stossel did recently offer a very weak attempt at a correction in which he seemed surprised that he was being raked over the coals for one measly little mistake, when the rest of his story was right. Gee, thanks for the um...apology? I'm a supporter of organic foods and I think, if anything, Stossel's hatchet job brought more positive attention to the industry than negative. Organic foods will survive which may be more than we can say for John Stossel's career as a journalist. You can get more info at http://www.vegsource.com/articles/organics.2020.htm [This message has been edited by rascal (edited October 14, 2000).] [This message has been edited by rascal (edited October 14, 2000).]
Where is Jeff? I know he'll have something to say on the subject. ------------------ Too often, we lose sight of life's simple pleasures. Remember, when someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown, but it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and pimp-slap the mother****** upside the head!
I think rascal summed it up pretty well. Stossel was full of sh*t on this one and he got caught. Personally, I would've liked to have been a fly on the wall when his producers found out. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
You mean Stossel's reports aren't a joke to liven up the show? I always thought they were pretty funny. Sort of like, "20/20 does it's best SNL impersonation." ------------------
Most people who know just basic horticulture know that fruits and vegetables have selectively permeable membranes that make it possible for you to take a dump on it and the food will still be okay. Just wash organic fruit like any other kind. I usually find 20/20 very credible but when that report came out, it went against everything I was learning in class at the time. Too many news shows, a direct effect of not enough quality sitcoms and dramas, are diluting the pool of credibul stories.
Yeah, but we got poor reporting even when 60 Minutes was the only game in town. The problem is that you've got some reporters or producers who come to stories with preconceived notions and then find people who will back up those notions. Then lo and behold, the story that comes out backs up the original opinions of the reporter or producer. Instead of searching for the truth, they're just trying to put a report on the air that supports what they already think. ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
Unfortunately one of the unsavoury side effects of free media (an aggressively defended right in this country!) is the abuse of power that goes with it. I'm all for free media, but the power the media wields is so immense that there needs to be dire consequences of misuse. I'm all for absolute free media, but if a journalist knowingly provides misleading information they should be subject to discreditation and dismissal at the least. My favorite example is the case of people accused of a serious crime, lets say of pedophilia. Once that becomes public knowledge (usually through the media), that persons life is over, guilty or not. ------------------ Maybe all the rulers are wrong. Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info
