John Stossel
Mustachioed know-it-all Stossel spent more than 25 years with ABC's 20/20 before decamping to Fox News and Fox Business in the fall of 2009 for his own gig, the cleverly named Stossel.
Chicago native Stossel graduated Princeton and started his journalism career as a researcher for KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon. After moving to New York, he worked as a consumer reporter at WCBS and WABC before joining the 20/20 crew in 1981. He soon earned fame for his signature catchphrase ("Gimme a break!") and skeptical approach to, well, just about everything. With his star rising—and after Rupert Murdoch's Fox News tried to poach him—Stossel landed a new contract in 1994 that combined his continued work on 20/20 with several one-hour specials. But Murdoch eventually got his man in 2009 when he tapped him to join Fox News and Fox Business. He now hosts a one-hour show called Stossel on Fox Business Network.
A gung-ho libertarian, Stossel has excoriated environmentalists for sounding the alarm over global warming; advocated shutting down the Food and Drug Administration; argued that seat belts in school buses are a waste of money; said that subsidies for American farms should be eliminated; called for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency; and claimed that oft-televised news stories about child abductions and hurricanes are simply scare tactics and don't really represent issues Americans should concern themselves with. Needless to say, accuracy isn't one of Stossel's strong suits. He's admitted to making a number of serious mistakes in the past, he's been sued in connection with his reporting, and the "research" he's used to prop up his arguments has been routinely debunked by leading academics. In 2000, for example, Stossel declared that organic produce was worse for you than conventional fruits and vegetables; it turned out his report had been based on faulty research and he was forced to issue a public apology. When he argued that global warming was a myth, no less than 104 Nobel Prize winners took him to task. [Image via Getty]