Pushed out of Fox News after 23 years, 55-year-old day-time anchor Shepard Smith stunned his colleagues announcing Oct. 12 he would leave the network. Shep came up the Fox News ranks at the same time as Anderson Cooper at CNN, vying for ratings as the two networks competed in the cutthroat cable news business. Shep joined Fox News at its inception in 1997, mirroring the network’s conservative voice, a couter-balance to CNN’s more liberal reporting. At the time Shep started at Fox News, Bernard Shaw anchored and served as managing director of CNN’s nightly news. Despite CNN’s liberal perspective, Shaw set the standard of nonpartisan news in the tradition of CBS’s Walter Cronkite who retired in 1981, handing the baton to Dan Rather. Since 73-year-old President Donald Trump was elected, Shep turned away from nonpartisan reporting, letting his animus get the better of him.
When he left Fox News yesterday, Shep routinely slammed everything Trump, indistinguishable from Anderson Cooper at CNN or MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell and Chris Hayes and the whole day-to-nighttime lineup. Listening to Shep’s daytime show was indistinguishable from his counterparts on CNN or MSNBC. When Shep’s dust-up occurred Sept. 25 with nighttime host Tucker Carlson, calling the critique of his legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano “repugnant,” you knew Shep was not long for the job. Tucker challenged Napolitano’s analysis of Trump’s impending impeachment, telling Shep that Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors. When Tucker’s legal expert Joe DiGenova called Napolitano a “fool,” Shep took it personally, calling it “repugnant.” DiGenova simply said Napolitano lacked the experience to conclude anything about federal crimes.
Shep’s statement to the media was clearly whitewashed by his non-compete and severance agreement. “Recently, I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter,” Smith said on his last broadcast Friday. What’s truly remarkable is that Shep’s tenure at Fox lasted so long with his show turning into a daily Trump-bashing affair, the same as CNN and MSNBC. In today’s atmosphere, political neutrality doesn’t exist in even late-night entertainment, where CBS’s host Stephen Colbert s set the tone, slamming Trump nightly for better audience share. When that brought him ratings, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon followed suit, using a good part of their monologues ripping Trump. When political bias seeps into daily-and-nightly news broadcasts, it robs the audience of any real capacity to learn anything factual about news stories.
Fox News president and executive editor Jay Wallace praised Shep for his professionalism. “Shep is one of the premier newscasters of his generation and his extraordinary body of work is among the finest journalism in the industry,” said Wallace, not acknowledging that Shep’s report took an anti-Trump turn. After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged . . . “ Smith said, referring to his resignation from Fox News. Wallace talks about Shep’s “finest journalism” but doesn’t admit he had become prejudiced against Trump. Shep and Napolitano spent the better part of three years find everything possible wrong with Trump. Both tried-and-convicted Trump during the 22-month, $30 million Robert Mueller Special Counsel investigation, agreeing with the New York Times and Washington Post, covering one fake-story after another, proving Trump colluded with Russia.
Shep’s world started to crumble once Mueller delivered his final report March 23, disappointing the anti-Trump press and Democrat Party, essentially clearing him of coordinating with Russian to win the 2016 presidential election. Yet day-after-day, Shep and Napolitano would routinely citing fake news stories in the liberal press, accusing Trump of everything but the kitchen sink. “While this day is especially difficult as his former producer, we respect his decision and are deeply grateful for his immense contributions to the entire network,” Wallace said. What Wallace didn’t say is that Fox News was the first to place its faith in a gay journalist, then followed CNN with Anderson Cooper. Both cable news networks broke new ground putting gay news hosts on the air. While Cooper remained faithful to CNN, Shep betrayed Fox News’s conservative bent.
Resigning from Fox News, Shep threw his colleagues for a loop, despite seeing the handwriting on the walls. “I’m Neil Cavuto and, like you, I’m a little stunned and a little heartbroken. I don’t know what to say,” said Cavuto, acting blindsided. If you paid attention Sept. 25 to the brouhaha with Tucker Carlson, you knew that Smith was no longer comfortable at the network. “I’m just trying to compile my thoughts too, Neil, I walked out her to do the hit and suddenly got hit by a subway train. Holy mackeral,” said Fox New White House correspondent John Roberts. Yet every one of Smith’s colleagues knew that he used his daytime show to slam Trump. Smith ridiculed Trump’s oft-reported statement about “fake news. “ “He [Trump] decries fake news that isn’t and disseminates fake news that is,” said Shep, not admitting that he did the same thing citing fake news in the New York Times and Washington Post.
