Shepard Smith has left Fox News, anchoring his afternoon newscast, Shepard Smith Reporting, for the last time Friday. At the end of the newscast, Smith said, “Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalist will thrive,” reports Forbes.
Smith, in a statement released by Fox, said he had asked the network to release him from the multi-year contract he signed just a year ago. Smith said he intended to “begin a new chapter.”
“After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged,” Smith said. “The opportunities afforded this guy from small-town Mississippi have been many. It’s been an honor and a privilege to report the news each day to our loyal audience in context and with perspective, without fear or favor. I’ve worked with the most talented, dedicated and focused professionals I know, and I’m proud to have anchored their work each day—I will deeply miss them.”
It would appear few inside Fox News had any idea the announcement was coming. Immediately after Smith made his on-air announcement, his colleague Neil Cavuto appeared visibly shocked by the news, beginning his show by saying “whoa,” and then pausing for several seconds before continuing. “I’m Neil Cavuto and like you, I’m a little stunned and a little heartbroken,” Cavuto said. A few moments later, John Roberts, reporting from the White House, said hearing the news of Smith’s exit felt like “being hit by a subway train.”
When Smith extended his contract with Fox in 2018, he told TIME he was comfortable with the split between news and opinion at Fox: “We serve different masters. We work for different reporting chains; we have different rules. They don’t really have rules on the opinion side. They can say whatever they want, if it’s their opinion. I don’t really watch a lot of opinion programming. I’m busy.”
Beginning Monday, the 3 p.m. ET hour will be called FOX News Reporting and Jon Scott and Trace Gallagher will be among a rotating group of anchors.
In a statement released by the network, Jay Wallace, Fox News president and executive editor, said: “Shep is one of the premier newscasters of his generation, and his extraordinary body of work is among the finest journalism in the industry. His integrity and outstanding reporting from the field helped put FOX News on the map, and there is simply no better breaking news anchor who has the ability to transport a viewer to a place of conflict, tragedy, despair or elation through his masterful delivery.”
A member of the network’s founding staff in 1996, Mr. Smith became increasingly conspicuous at Fox News for his skepticism on President Trump, reports The NYTimes.
His pointed comments, closer in tone to that of CNN anchors like Anderson Cooper than of Fox News mainstays like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, irked Mr. Trump, who had taken to taunting Mr. Smith on Twitter as the network’s “lowest-rated anchor.” Other Fox News personalities were also unimpressed: Last month, Mr. Carlson openly mocked Mr. Smith on-air, a rare moment of intramural discord bursting into public view.
The internal tensions had frustrated Mr. Smith, 55, who was dismayed at the disconnect between some of the pro-Trump cheerleading in prime-time and the reporting produced by the network’s newsroom, according to two people close to the anchor who requested anonymity to share his private observations. Mr. Smith had been considering an exit from Fox News for several weeks, the people said.
No comments:
Post a Comment