NEW YORK — Bowing to pressure, ABC News said Tuesday that it will remove an interview with California children from its John Stossel program Friday, "Tampering With Nature," after their parents complained that they were misled about the news special.
The network said it had concluded that Stossel did nothing wrong, but in an unusual move will excise that interview out of sensitivity to the parents. An ABC News spokesman said Stossel currently is interviewing other children that may be incorporated into the show, which will now offer an explanation of the controversy.
The interview in dispute was with children, mostly in the second to the fourth grades, at Canyon Charter School in Santa Monica. It was to be used in a segment raising questions about whether educators are unduly scaring children about environmental issues. In a group letter to Stossel on Monday, the parents revoked permission to use the interview, which touched on such environmental concerns as global warming. The show explores issues from genetically modified foods to human cloning, questioning whether current fears about such science are unfounded.
The parents, whose complaints were coordinated by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group, a past critic of Stossel, said that they were told their children were participating in a program about Earth Day. They and some educators who were interviewed said the participation of the often-controversial Stossel was hidden from them until moments before the interviews began and that Stossel asked leading questions.
In a statement, the network said it had reviewed the correspondent's interview with the children and "concludes it was conducted in a professional and responsible manner according to the highest journalistic standards." Moreover, ABC said, the parents gave their consent "and none voiced any concerns to ABC for more than two months, until the week of our broadcast after they had spoken with activists."
Nonetheless, ABC said it is "sensitive when parents raise objections regarding the appearance of their young children on television and will consider such objections carefully. In the present case, ABC News has decided it will respect the belated decision of a number of parents to withdraw their consent."
