Shepard Smith will be fine, Fox won’t
Shepard Smith is bigger than Fox News.
Despite his departure from the network last Friday, the satellite juggernaut will keep right on chugging. In fact, it will probably get a positive bounce from Smith’s departure because it will satisfy those who have been calling for the newsman’s head for so long.
Smith was the lone beacon of sanity in the Fox lineup. As such, he takes with him the remaining shreds of competent and fair reporting at the network.
He had a rather deliberate style, and you almost never saw him lose his cool, unlike the other talking heads on the news networks.
I don’t ever recall hearing him raise his voice or seeing him strike a pose simply for effect. He was a newsman. I trust he will return some day, somewhere. I mean, if he was able to maintain his balance and ethics working for Fox, he will surely land on his feet at a reputable news outlet.
I admire Smith.
He stood tall, reporting without fear or favor while his Fox teammates planted wet sloppy ones on the administration. His feuds with Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity were well documented. The vinegary Carlson didn’t seem to appreciate that Smith presented news as news and had the audacity to actually fact-check the president. Hannity? Let’s just say he did a better job of building houses than he does as a TV personality.
I admire Smith for maintaining his dignity while those around him were fawning to be the president’s best friend. You know, rich guys like the president surround themselves with bootlickers and loyalists who are willing to march into hell to support them. Or bootlickers and loyalists who can be bought.
I admire Smith because he couldn’t be bought. This is a guy who was raking in a reported $15 million a year on his current contract, which had several more years to go. Not many people are strong enough to walk away from that. Smith was the journalistic standard bearer at Fox, never once compromising his ethics, character, or reputation.
What makes this so disturbing for Fox is that Smith was there from the network’s very beginning.
He was a good hire, a reputable newsman who could be relied upon to deliver an honest report while guys like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and the others drove around in the clown car.
There was much joy from the ultra-righters Friday after Smith dropped his bombshell at the end of his broadcast. And, while we know that Smith wasn’t canned, his resignation was not submitted under the best of circumstances.
An employer can do a lot of things to make an employee’s life miserable. The paramount offense is to abandon him, make him feel as if the boss didn’t have his back, and Fox executives clearly did not have Smith’s back, especially in his beef with Carlson.
I admire Smith because, well, I have a feeling this story isn’t over yet.
We’ll learn more, I am sure, when he finally accepts a lucrative book deal.
But in advance of that, I have this feeling that Fox News executives are coming very close to being subpoenaed to testify in the impeachment inquiry. There’s this little pinging going off in my head that suggests Smith’s got the goods on these guys and didn’t want to have his reputation tarnished any more than it already has been. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but there was, I believe, a bit of a message in his sign-off Friday when he said “facts will win the day.” Time will tell.
Clearly, the powers that be at Fox don’t seem terribly interested in straight-up news reporting. I mean they really have only one newsie left in Chris Wallace, and I wonder how much longer he may last.
Smith started as a reporter at Fox 23 years ago, but he quickly climbed the ranks to become news anchor and managing editor for breaking news, a couple of tough gigs.
But along the way while Smith was doing his due diligence, the network was busy propping up Hannity, Carlson, and the morning zoo. That’s where their promo money and effort went, and those were the guys who the president gave his own special endorsement. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
The president’s disdain for the media is well documented. We know he hates mainstream media, calling it “fake news,” and that he berates reporters every chance he gets.
And that’s OK.
All it means is that they are doing their jobs.
However, the Hannity’s and Carlson’s and others of their ilk have poisoned the public’s perception of real news, as has, to be honest, Rachel Maddow. While I share a lot of her opinions, I’m a little worn from being beaten over the head with them. She’s a good analyst and a good entertainer, but I’ve never seen her do any substantive reporting. It’s why I rarely tune her in.
Still, I wouldn’t wish her gone, like so many did with Smith.
If you were among those who were happy to hear he was leaving the network, you simply have no interest in real news. Period. Simple. End of statement.
Smith’s daily report became an act of conscience.
He knew the network’s reputation, he knew the bias built into the broadcast lineup, he knew what pushed them. It made his professional life more difficult, more challenging, but he maintained his credentials as a top-flight news anchor.
I don’t know where Smith will land. But, I’m pretty sure he will be back as soon as the non-competition clause in his termination deal expires.
I’m sure Smith will miss the money, but I guarantee what he will miss more is chasing the big story, digging into it, and adding a chapter to history with his reporting. It’s what motivates those of us who still try to string words together for a living.
I don’t think that ever goes away.
To this day, if a big story is breaking, all of my old instincts rise to the surface, and I get all itchy to jump into the fray. It’s imprinted in my DNA, just as I am sure it is in Smith’s.
And as far as his resignation? I guarantee there is another chapter or two that we have yet to hear.
Shepard Smith will be fine. The Fox News network will not.
Peace.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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After reading your opinions Ed, I stopped watching FOX about a year ago. Just kidding, that you were the cause of that actual decision. Rather I have discovered independent free range media is a no brainer. I can watch a 10 min video on YouTube that delivers info 10:1 ratio of info and even laugh at the same time. FOX /CNN / MSNBC and the like, have lost cred except in regards to delivering news to people who would prefer watching Football or Netflix. Could have substituted Britney Speers or Justin Beaver for Shepard. Sure he would even agree. Celebrities are just that. Song to reference. “Cult of Personality”. Try again, you’re getting warmer Ed. Better then Trump crap that I will give you. But please keep trying. Honestly couldnt read this article. I loathe vanity. Yea, we are all vain at some point.