Excerpt: John Stossel's 'Give Me a Break'

-- In his bestselling "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media," John Stossel, consumer reporter and "20/20" co-anchor, takes on regulators, lawyers, and politicians.

Stossel's latest book, "Myths, Lies, And Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel -- Why Everything You Know Is Wrong," is coming to bookstores soon. In it, Stossel turns conventional wisdom on its head and reveals that fiction and hype often underlie many of the things we accept as fact. To order a copy, click here.

Below is an excerpt from Chapter One of "Give Me a Break."

Chapter One

What Happened to Stossel?

Journalism without a moral position is impossible.— Marguerite Duras

I was once a heroic consumer reporter; now I'm a threat to journalism.

As a consumer reporter, I exposed con men and thieves, confronting them with hidden camera footage that unmasked their lies, put some out of business, and helped send the worst of them to jail. The Dallas Morning News called me the "bravest and best of television's consumer reporters." Marvin Kitman of Newsday said I was "the man who makes 'em squirm," whose "investigations of the unjust and wicked … are models." Jonathan Mandell of the New York Daily News quoted a WCBS official who "proudly" said, "No one's offended more people than John Stossel."

Ah, "proudly." Those were the days. My colleagues liked it when I offended people.