Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik spoke with Fox Business Network’s latest high-profile addition, John Stossel, as he prepares to launch his new show. The format change and Stossel’s new role making the rounds on top FNC programs hasn’t always been easy for the former ABCer:
“I would say it’s going good and bad,” he says of his early days at Fox appearing as an expert on the shows of other hosts. “It’s good in that everybody is very nice, and it is great to have the airtime to talk about economic freedom more often. But I’m struggling because it’s a different format. I have always written scripts and married the scripts to video. And this doing live debate is new to me. I think I was really awful at the beginning, and I’m starting to get better at it. But it’s a new thing that I have to learn.”
An interesting note: Stossel says he used to stutter and it was written into his ABC contract that he’d never have to be on live, except in emergencies. Now, his new show will be live-to-tape and, as he told Zurawik, his college speaking engagements inspired him to tape it before a studio audience: “I liked the interaction with these angry students who say, ‘Capitalism is evil.’ Through trying to explain it and answer them, I’ve gotten better at it — and more willing to try it.”
“Stossel” will debut Thursday at 8pmET.