Ben Stein has written books, acted in movies, written presidential speeches and hosted a game show.
But he spoke Tuesday at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Phoenix about another accomplishment: being a television viewer.
"When I was going off to law school, my parents gave me a television, and I wasn't as diligent the first year I went to law school as I should have been," he said.
Stein told audience members "Why Bashing Big Business is Big Business in Hollywood" as part of a Goldwater Institute Speaker Series.
"I spent a lot of time watching television," he said about his days as a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz.
"I started to notice some patterns about entertainment television," Stein said. "A businessman on TV was just a ridiculous joke of a person."
Stein offered possible causes of what he called the media bias against business, including differences in political theologies.
But professors with the W. P. Carey School of Business were conflicted with the way big business is regarded in Arizona.
"On the one hand, Arizona is right-leaning, so there is a certain deference to business in general," said marketing professor Blake Ashford. "But [on the] other hand, being a Western state, there is a strong stream of individualism that makes us somewhat skeptical of institutions in general, including big business. "
Legal and ethical studies professor Marianne Jennings said the media are responsible for the negative light on Arizona businesses.
"Look at the hatred for APS, America West and Jerry Colangelo," she said.
Reach the reporter at michael.miklofsky@asu.edu.
