Politics Shepard Smith, Fox News veteran anchor and frequent Trump target, abruptly resigns from the network

Shepard Smith, one of Fox News’s leading anchors and a frequent target of President Trump, abruptly stepped down from the network on Friday, departing with little explanation after 23 years on the air.

Smith, Fox News’s chief news anchor and host of its afternoon news program “Shepard Smith Reporting,” said the decision to leave was his own but gave no further reason for his resignation. He signed off with a brief statement, surprising even his colleagues. Fox News said Friday’s program would be Smith’s last.

Smith has been at Fox News since its founding in 1996 and is one of its signature figures. He was among the first people hired by Fox News’s co-founder, the late Roger Ailes, for the network’s launch. His recent tenure, however, has been marked by conflict and criticism, not just from President Trump but from within the network itself.

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In farewell remarks, Smith said, “Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter. After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged. 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.”

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Smith’s criticism of Trump dates to the beginning of Trump’s presidency. After a presidential news conference in early 2017, for example, he called some of Trump’s responses “absolutely crazy.” He went on to defend rival news network CNN after Trump called its reporting “fake news.”

“CNN’s reporting was not fake news,” Smith said at the time. “Its journalists follow the same standards to which other news organizations, including Fox News, adhere.”

More recently, he urged Fox News viewers to read special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report of his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, strongly suggesting that it didn’t exonerate the president, as Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr had claimed. “Everyone in America should read” it, he said on the air. “Everyone.”


Trump, in turn, has sometimes disparaged Smith by name on Twitter, viewing him as an apostate at a network he believes should be loyal to him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...7953b8-ec61-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html

I've always liked and respected Mr Smith. Sucks to see him go.

SlyPokerDog said:

I've always liked and respected Mr Smith. Sucks to see him go.

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I agree, he was the one person on that network who was decent, which is probably why he is leaving

SlyPokerDog said:

I've always liked and respected Mr Smith. Sucks to see him go.

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I always though of him as Ted Baxter.

MarAzul said:

I always though of him as Ted Baxter.

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Some people like news, some people like the entertainment division of Fox News. Stick with the entertainment division.

Really sorry to see him go. One of the few anchors without an agenda.

I dont know if I have ever heard of this guy but from the comments here, I’ll look for him where ever he lands.

Shepard Smith 'was sick of being attacked by his Fox News primetime colleagues' and asked for a way out of his $15million a year contract - while former staffer says it will be 'telling' to see who is chosen as his replacement

• Shepard Smith is leaving Fox News after joining the network in 1996 he announced on Friday, just 18 months after signing a $15million deal
• The sudden move comes after the anchor was both praised and derided over the past three years for his criticism of President Trump
• Sources say he was 'sick' of being attacked by his primetime colleagues
• Most recently, Smith was openly mocked by Tucker Carlson on his show for calling an attack on one their colleagues 'repugnant'
• He's also been ridiculed by hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham
• When asked about Smith's departure on Friday by DailyMail.com, President Trump said: 'Is he leaving because of bad ratings? Is he leaving because of me?'
• Former Fox News reporter Carl Cameron told MSNBC that 'it will be telling' to see who steps into Smith's slot
• Smith, 55, said that he was looking forward to spending more time with his partner Giovanni Graziano, 31, and their dog Lucia
• Multiple sources told DailyMail.com that Smith's departure was a complete surprise to employees at the network and he was escorted out

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...acked-Fox-News-primetime-colleagues-quit.html

TorturedBlazerFan said:

I dont know if I have ever heard of this guy but from the comments here, I’ll look for him where ever he lands.

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The Chief Anchor and head of news at the world's largest and by far the most popular cable news network?

Never heard of him?

MARIS61 said:

The Chief Anchor and head of news at the world's largest and by far the most popular cable news network?

Never heard of him?

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Yeah I dont watch Fox, or CNN, or MSNBC, or any of the major news networks because theres this shiny new invention called the internet and I dont need political commentary and propaganda dancing around like news and “facts” in order to get informed.

TorturedBlazerFan said:

Yeah I dont watch Fox, or CNN, or MSNBC, or any of the major news networks because theres this shiny new invention called the internet and I dont need political commentary and propaganda dancing around like news and “facts” in order to get informed.

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But, you are in this forum.

j/k

MARIS61 said:

The Chief Anchor and head of news at the world's largest and by far the most popular cable news network?

Never heard of him?

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Numbers are dwindling maris and your boy had a bad week again with losing 3 court battles. tsk tsk

CupWizier said:

But, you are in this forum.

j/k

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Its true and id say I read more political commentary here than just about anywhere. I just remind myself we all have our crazy opinions of reality and whats “good” and “bad”.

TorturedBlazerFan said:

Its true and id say I read more political commentary here than just about anywhere. I just remind myself we all have our crazy opinions of reality and whats “good” and “bad”.

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Not me, I have a big brain and a a very stable genius.

CupWizier said:

Not me, I have a big brain and a a very stable genius.

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So I listen to stuff like I'll watch interviews, or listen to speeches, or forums. I used to spend a lot of time listening to debates from Harvard, Oxford, MIT. I'm not unwilling to hear things but generally, I want to form my own opinion on things and I found growing up I thought the "major" networks were too often trying to make an opinion for me. So I just stopped watching them as I didn't find what they did, to be "news"...

TorturedBlazerFan said:

Yeah I dont watch Fox, or CNN, or MSNBC, or any of the major news networks because theres this shiny new invention called the internet and I dont need political commentary and propaganda dancing around like news and “facts” in order to get informed.

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If you have better sources of factual, up to the minute news on a world-wide scale please share where you "get informed" so we can all get up to speed with you.

MARIS61 said:

If you have better sources of factual, up to the minute news on a world-wide scale please share where you "get informed" so we can all get up to speed with you.

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I already told you where it's at, if you're looking with help using the internet there are probably youtube tutorials.

TorturedBlazerFan said:

I already told you where it's at, if you're looking with help using the internet there are probably youtube tutorials.

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Ummmm......I think @MARIS61 already gets his information from the internet......Just sayin’........it’s kind of a dark, scary road with no real directions. I guess where you end up depends on your driving and navigation skills. Lotta shitty drivers out there, obviously.......

UncleCliffy'sDaddy said:

Ummmm......I think @MARIS61 already gets his information from the internet......Just sayin’........it’s kind of a dark, scary road with no real directions. I guess where you end up depends on your driving and navigation skills. Lotta shitty drivers out there, obviously.......

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lol, I'm being somewhat facetious obviously, but it's not that super hard to look for multiple sources, research and then find a youtube video of what people actually said w/o commentary. I certainly wouldn't take Judicial Watch, or Fox or CNN at their word just cause they said so... It's easy enough to go to find more information. That doesn't mean that I always end up in the right place, that would be awfully arrogant, but I certainly try to inform myself even if I don't really know who these "famous" people are.

Shepard Smith I think was good at breaking news and calling play by play.
I think he tried to present news without much political bias.

CupWizier said:

Not me, I have a big brain and a a very stable genius.

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TorturedBlazerFan said:

shiny new invention called the interne

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umm, It has been here a while now. I had a heck of time getting it at my ranch in NE OR. It was tough to get a private phone line instead of share neighborhood line.
I manage to get it done though, about 1991. As I recall, there was only one ISP I could connect with that wasn't long distance. Prodigy I think was the name

TorturedBlazerFan said:

lol, I'm being somewhat facetious obviously, but it's not that super hard to look for multiple sources, research and then find a youtube video of what people actually said w/o commentary. I certainly wouldn't take Judicial Watch, or Fox or CNN at their word just cause they said so... It's easy enough to go to find more information. That doesn't mean that I always end up in the right place, that would be awfully arrogant, but I certainly try to inform myself even if I don't really know who these "famous" people are.

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As I’ve mentioned before, one of my morning “information stops” is at Real Clear Politics. It definitely leans right (while maintaining the facade of “fair and neutral”) but it compiles articles and opinion pieces from both sides of the aisle. So I’ll read one take and then the other side. I figure the truth lies (hopefully) somewhere in the middle, so those readings along with sorting through the rest of the noise around every issue give me (probably) a more informed idea than just listening to the partisan bullshit. But then, how often do we ever know the whole (or any) “truth” about anything....?

UncleCliffy'sDaddy said:

As I’ve mentioned before, one of my morning “information stops” is at Real Clear Politics. It definitely leans right (while maintaining the facade of “fair and neutral”) but it compiles articles and opinion pieces from both sides of the aisle. So I’ll read one take and then the other side. I figure the truth lies (hopefully) somewhere in the middle, so those readings along with sorting through the rest of the noise around every issue give me (probably) a more informed idea than just listening to the partisan bullshit. But then, how often do we ever know the whole (or any) “truth” about anything....?

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Well fact checking isn't really partisan and fact checking trump shows time after time of lying. When you fact check it's either true or false and many of trumps come up 100% false.

MarAzul said:

umm, It has been here a while now. I had a heck of time getting it at my ranch in NE OR. It was tough to get a private phone line instead of share neighborhood line.
I manage to get it done though, about 1991. As I recall, there was only one ISP I could connect with that wasn't long distance. Prodigy I think was the name

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We've come a longs ways from your days in eastern Oregon. We have phones that don;t even need a wire now. You should try one.

CupWizier said:

We have phones that don;t even need a wire now. You should try one.

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They even reach my estate in Florida!

MarAzul said:

umm, It has been here a while now. I had a heck of time getting it at my ranch in NE OR. It was tough to get a private phone line instead of share neighborhood line.
I manage to get it done though, about 1991. As I recall, there was only one ISP I could connect with that wasn't long distance. Prodigy I think was the name

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Oh man, that's a blast from the past. I totally remember Prodigy, Compuserve and Delphi.net (I think that was the name). I haven't thought about those names in almost a quarter of a century.

AOL, Netscape, Tel-net, Deja-News...man, kids these days don't know how easy they can access porn compared to in our day...

julius said:

Oh man, that's a blast from the past. I totally remember Prodigy, Compuserve and Delphi.net (I think that was the name). I haven't thought about those names in almost a quarter of a century.

AOL, Netscape, Tel-net, Deja-News...man, kids these days don't know how easy they can access porn compared to in our day...

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Computer porn in my day:



barfo

barfo said:

Computer porn in my day:

barfo

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Done on a dot matrix printer! State of the art, same as the printer that printed across the top of an 80 column Hollerith punch card.