What The Media Tell
Americans About Free Enterprise
|
Thursday, January
31, 2001 |
Volume 9, Number 2 |
Kudos... To ABC’s John Stossel
Few in the media show as much disdain for big government as they
do big corporations such as Microsoft or the tobacco companies. "My
colleagues are quite comfortable with big government," ABC’s John
Stossel explained to a questioner in an online chat on January 29.
"But to be fair," he added, "they DO often report on government
waste."
Network correspondents sometimes do report on government waste,
but not like Stossel. The maverick ABC reporter’s January 27
prime-time special, Mr. Stossel Goes to Washington, offered viewers
a comprehensive look at the factual case against big government:
workers who labor at tough jobs only to have the government take a
third of their income in high taxes; gigantic agencies such as the
Pentagon that can’t account for trillions of dollars; anecdotes of
how private charities are thwarted by senseless government
rule-making; and stories about how mismanagement by the Interior
Department office that’s supposed to help Native Americans has
wasted money and actually hurt tribes such as the Sioux in South
Dakota.
The
Lakota Sioux tribe has been under the control of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs for more than 100 years, Stossel reported. "The
result? This is now the poorest county in America. Unemployment’s
about 80%. People live on government checks," he stated. "With
nothing to do, many just drink." Under the government’s care, the
average life expectancy for the Lakota Sioux has declined to below
that of poor 3rd World nations such as Guatemala, Bolivia and
Brazil, according to a Native American activist. But when Stossel
arranged to interview then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt about
the Bureau’s poor performance, including the misallocation of more
than $2 billion, the Secretary stalked out of the room rather than
defend his department.
"I’m gonna fire whoever scheduled this interview," Babbitt told
Stossel.
Taken together, the message of the Stossel special was plain: big
government takes too much of your money, wastes an awful lot of it,
and usually isn’t held accountable for mistakes or mismanagement.
Although it was produced months ago, the show also contained an
important message to consider as Congress begins contemplating a new
federal entitlement for senior citizens’ prescription drugs: the
private sector almost always produces better results — and private
programs cost less.
For one example, Stossel went to Jersey City, New Jersey, where
decaying water pipes were fouling the city’s water supply at the
same time costs were rising. So Mayor Bret Schundler ended the city
government’s monopolistic control of the water system, turning the
system over to a private company. "For the first time in years,"
Stossel reported, "the city’s water meets the highest standard and
for less money. The private company saved taxpayers $35 million." In
another segment, Stossel showed how a decaying public housing
project, once infested with drug dealers, was transformed into a
neat, decent place to live when control was placed in the hands of a
private developer.
Stossel’s is a lonely voice. On his ABC online chat, he admitted
that he’s "been hassled and sneered at by some" of his colleagues,
but he reminded fans that "it is the ABC network and its executives
that allow me to put this program on the air. Many of them don’t
agree with my point of view, but they believe it’s an argument that
deserves to be heard."
A fair and balanced media would, in its day-to-day reporting,
disseminate the facts which undermine the cause of big government
alongside the opinions of those who wish to expand it further. Kudos
to ABC’s John Stossel for revealing the other side of the story.
— Rich
Noyes
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