[otw_shortcode_dropcap label=”F” font=”Ultra” background_color_class=”otw-no-background” size=”large” border_color_class=”otw-no-border-color”][/otw_shortcode_dropcap]ox News’ former breaking news star Shepard Smith, who abruptly left the number one news network last year has landed a new gig. Smith will go from daytime news anchor at Fox to hosting a one-hour primetime news show on CNBC. Beginning this fall, “The News With Shepard Smith” will air from 7 pm-8 pm ET.
CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman expressed enthusiasm for Smith’s arrival in a statement:
“Information is coming at us from every direction. If we’re not careful life-altering decisions will be made based on half-truth, rumor, misdirection or worse. We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise.”
Smith developed a reputation as the “go-to” anchor to cover some of the largest breaking news stories since being a part of the network’s launch in 1996. In October of 2019 Smith ended a Friday broadcast by stating “recently, I asked the company to allow me to leave…after requesting that I stay, they obliged.”
Smith praised his new network saying he is “honored to continue to pursue the truth, both for CNBC’s loyal viewers and for those who have been following my reporting for decades in good times and in bad.” Smith added CNBC has a “vision for a fact-based, hourlong evening news program with the mission to cut through the static to deliver facts, in context and with perspective.”
Daily Wire reports the one-hour time slot where Smith’s show will live averages “fewer than 250,000 viewers, according to Nielsen, which is a steep drop from the 1.3 million who tuned into his show on Fox News.” Although an explanation for Smith’s departure from Fox was never publicly given, there has been much speculation that Smith was at odds with coverage of President Trump and had spats with the more conservative Fox News hosts.
