CNBC is sacking former Fox Newscaster Shepard Smith eliminating his nightly program after two years, citing a desire by the network’s new president to focus on the network’s core strength of business reporting.
Shepard Smith will make his final broadcast later this month. He did not respond immediately.
Smith joined CNBC after abruptly leaving Fox News Channel in 2019 when he established a general interest news show that aired weeknights at 7 p.m.
According to CNBC, Smith’s show had the richest viewership of any nighttime program on cable news, which is generally a significant selling point.
However, there needed to be more viewers.
According to Nielsen, his show has averaged 222,000 views this year, a little decrease from 2021. “The News with Shepard Smith” had 280,000 views in the last three months of 2020.
In comparison, Fox News’s Jesse Watters drew 3.4 million viewers in the same time slot on Tuesday, while MSNBC’s Joy Reid had 1.3 million.
Shepard Smith was recruited to CNBC by former CEO Mark Hoffman. KC Sullivan, who took over for Mark Hoffman in September, revealed Smith’s departure in a note to staffers on Thursday.
Sullivan added, “I feel we must prioritize and focus on our fundamental strengths of business news and personal finance.”
He stated that a business news show would debut around the same time next year but provided no further details.
“At a time when misinformation and distortion are pervasive, ‘The News’ succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest knowledge of the truth,” remarked CNBC’s CEO.
Smith started at Fox News Channel from its debut in 1996 until 2019, when he resigned after an altercation with Tucker Carlson, Fox’s ascendant opinion show.
He had helmed a 7 p.m. show on Fox for numerous years, but it had been shifted to an afternoon spot.
Shepard Smith joined FOX News Channel in 1996 as one of its first personnel and was noted for covering nearly all significant issues as both a correspondent and an anchor.
Shepard Smith departed Fox News for the same reasons that countless others leave their professions daily.
According to the reports, Smith didn’t feel properly supported by his superiors, he had an ethical problem with the network’s direction and integrity, and he couldn’t take it any longer and did all he could in the post.
Shep Smith announced his retirement from Fox News in his final episode, saying, “Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my goal that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive.”
While Smith’s ratings were rather strong, they were still lower than those of his opinionated colleagues such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham.
