David Shepard Smith Jr., known better as Shepard Smith or Shep Smith, is an
American television news anchor. He is the former host of Fox Report with
Shepard Smith and Studio B weekdays on Fox News Channel. In October 2013, Smith
became the host of Shepard Smith Reporting as well as the managing editor
of Fox News Channel's Breaking News Division.
Early life Smith was born in Holly Springs,
Mississippi, the son of Dora Ellen Anderson, an English teacher, and David
Shepard Smith, Sr., a cotton merchant. He attended Marshall Academy, a K–12
private school in Holly Springs, but completed his senior year of high school
in Florida, where he, his mother, and brother moved after his parents
separated. Smith went on to attend the University of Mississippi, where he
majored in journalism, but left two credits away from graduation. He
frequently returns to the university during college football season, and
delivered the university's annual commencement address on May 10, 2008.
Journalism career Smith signed his first television
contract with WJHG-TV in Panama City Beach, Florida. He worked as a reporter
for WCJB-TV in Gainesville, a reporter for WBBH-TV in Fort Myers,
reporter/anchor in Miami with WSVN and as a reporter at WCPX-TV in Orlando. In
Los Angeles, California he was a correspondent for A Current Affair. He
joined the Fox News Channel at its inception in 1996.
Smith has been assigned to cover many major news stories during his career. In
1997, he reported on the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. In
November 2000, he was sent to Florida to cover the Florida ballot counting
controversy during the United States presidential election. In 2001, he
traveled to Terre Haute, Indiana, to be one of the media witnesses to the
execution of Timothy McVeigh. In late August 2005, he spent a little over a
week in New Orleans, Louisiana, to provide news reports on the events and
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Fox Report with Shepard Smith was a
top-rated newscast in cable news and has been ranked third in the top programs in
U.S. cable news. Shepard Smith tied for second as the most trusted news anchor
on both network and cable news in a 2003 TV Guide poll. In addition to anchoring
Fox News Channel's flagship news program, Smith also anchors most prime
time news presentations provided by Fox News for the Fox television network.
On November 19, 2007, The New York Times reported that Smith had signed a
three-year contract giving him between US$7 million and US$8 million per year.
This contract places Smith into the same pay league as anchor Brian Williams of
NBC and former anchor Charles Gibson of ABC. Smith renewed his contract with Fox
on October 26, 2010, for another three years.
On September 12, 2013, Smith and Fox News announced that, along with another
multiyear renewal of Smith's contract, Smith's role in Fox News would shift.
Smith would become the managing editor of Fox News' new breaking news division
and the host of Shepard Smith Reporting. Both Studio B and The Fox Report were
phased out, and in October 2013 Shepard Smith Reporting began airing in the 3
p.m. ET time slot. Appearances in film
Smith has appeared as himself in the film Volcano. Video of Smith anchoring
on Fox News Channel during the opening moments of the March 2003 Iraq War was
also used in the film Fahrenheit 9/11. Personal life
Smith married Virginia Donald, a University of Mississippi classmate, in
1987. They divorced in 1993 with no children.
References External links
Shepard Smith biography at FoxNews.com Shepard Smith Reporting official website
Shepard Smith at the Internet Movie Database
Appearances on C-SPAN