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It’s not new that Fox is plugging Shep in this role, but they’ve amped up their efforts since the kerfuffle with the White House. Why don’t they push their other news personalities on this front, like Megyn Kelly, for example? Because Kelly is a regular guest on O’Reilly’s show, where she vehemently delivers her opinions about news stories. Of all of them, Shep has kept his hands the most clean, for which the network ought to be very thankful these days. We hope when his contract is up in a year, he at least gets a raise out of it. … [Read more...] about Plays Right Into Fox News’ Hands

Like many folks, Rush Limbaugh thinks the media should learn a lesson from its handling of the Shirley Sherrod fiasco, but that lesson is not “maybe the media should look deeper into a story based on a video posted on a partisan website known for highly edited videos before dragging the name of a good-hearted woman through the mud.” No, it was not that. It was that conservative journalists like Fox News’s Shepard Smith should get some “guts.” “Even Fox caved on this. Even poor old Shep Smith went down there and said that everybody’s wrong on this, that Breitbart is wrong and so forth,” Limbaugh said on his radio show yesterday. “We got a bunch of cowards in the conservative media inside the Beltway which will not deal with this honestly.” Yeah, Shep, why did you refuse to run with this story as soon as a conservative website told you it was a story, à la Bill O’Reilly? … [Read more...] about Rush Limbaugh Is Angry That Fox News Anchor Acted Like a Journalist

At the end of tonight’s Fox Report, Smith explained that when he makes his return after getting shoulder surgery, he’ll be reporting from the “Fox News Deck,” a new studio that will pull together social media and traditional reporting, allowing him to cut into any Fox News program when stories break (how the social media aspect will differ from CNN constantly checking in with the folks on Twitter remains to be seen). … [Read more...] about Shepard Smith to Focus on Breaking News, Clear Way for More Fox News Opinion

Another way the Fox News Deck will resemble current breaking news coverage: Sometimes it will be totally wrong. “I expect there to be a few mistakes along the way because this is a high wire act without a net going live to the public,” said Ailes. “Any mistakes, however, will not justify changing the need for a special talent presenting the news and using the most updated technology to inform our public.” If mistakes did call for changing up the breaking news formula, that might be awkward. Shep’s team already “confirmed” on Twitter that there were “shots fired outside the White House” after some guy set off firecrackers. … [Read more...] about Roger Ailes Is Okay With Occasionally Inaccurate Breaking News

Fox News conscience Shepard Smith brought a rare moment of sanity to the network this afternoon when he shut down a colleague’s report that there was a “widespread panic across the country” over Ebola. “Oh my God, Doug, I appreciate it, but I think we both know there’s no widespread panic across the country,” Smith said. “And I think we also know that if there’s a widespread panic, it’s not based in fact and it’s not based in reason.” … [Read more...] about Shep Smith Dismantles Ebola Panic, Becomes First Person to Say ‘Fear Not’ on Fox News