Shepard Smith made a shocking exit from Fox News in October of 2019. In his last speech
on his Shepard Smith Reporting newscast, he looked back at his 23-year career with the
conservative news channel.
"Even in our currently polarized nation, it's my hope that the facts will win the day, that
the truth will always matter."
There was no hint that his show was failing. According to The Daily Caller, Shepard Smith
Reporting averaged more than a million viewers on a typical broadcast. However, CNN reported
that Smith may have been overwhelmed by a growing dissolution between Fox News and President
Donald Trump. Unlike some of his colleagues, the veteran journalist saw himself as fair
and unbiased. Trump had even called out Smith in the past, tweeting that he should be working
at CNN, which is a serious insult when it's coming from Trump.
Smith did not leave FOX for CNN, but he did eventually return to the scene on another
news channel: CNBC. However, his new show appears to be in trouble.
Shepard Smith debuted on CNBC in September 2020 via a program titled The News with Shepard
Smith, which airs weeknights at 7 p.m. EST. Unfortunately, his new audience does not seem
to be warming up to him. According to Nielsen Data, his ratings have continued to drop each
week the show has been on the air. The former Fox News anchor reportedly attracted 343,000
total viewers for week one, and by week four, just 242,000 people tuned in. This is much
lower than his ratings for his former 3 p.m. time slot with Fox News.
Despite those troubling numbers, CNBC says it is going to continue to support Smith.
The channel said in a statement:
"We are pleased with the launch of The News with Shepard Smith and have received very
positive feedback from viewers. Not only is CNBC a new entrant in the general news genre,
but news viewers are creatures of habit and it takes a long time to change those habits."
CNBC has received positive feedback on The News with Shepard Smith's Twitter page, but
there are definitely mixed reviews floating around the internet, and it appears that not
everybody is happy that Smith is back on television. One Twitter critic said The News with Shepard
Smith isn't worth the investment, tweeting:
"Why is CNBC wasting money on this clown show?"
But despite a few negative opinions and relatively low viewership, it does seem like people are
rooting for Shepard Smith and his CNBC show. One viewer tweeted:
"So glad that you're back! Love your show. I like that you talk about what's happening
around the US and the world, not just Washington DC. Thank you!"
Another fan agreed, writing:
"Just found your show again - always watched you on Fox - you do an excellent job on just
the news without the bias - thanks - will be watching."
Smith is not the only Fox-turned-NBC reporter that has experienced mixed reviews. Megyn
Kelly departed from her perch at Fox News and left her own show, The Kelly Files, in
2017. She said her exit was due to the atmosphere of covering politics for a conservative news
channel. In an interview with Ellen Degeneres, she explained:
"I was never a political person. I wasn't raised in a political household. It became
clear to me it wasn't what I wanted to do. It's not who I am. Donald Trump has a way
of clarifying one's life choices, and that was true in my case too."
While we may never know the exact reasons Smith left Fox News, it appears that his situation
at least partially echoes that of Kelly's. In July 2020, the journalist appeared on CNBC
to lay out his goals for his then-upcoming show and hinted that he was jaded by the way
news focused more on opinions and emotions than, well, news. He stated that he intended
to steer away from opinions and focus on fact-based journalism
"No pundits, nobody telling you what to think or how to feel, just what the facts are."
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