Shepard Smith: Fox News opinion hosts 'don't really have rules'

[highplainsdem]

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/378631-shepard-smith-fox-news-opinion-hosts-dont-really-have-rules

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith says opinion programming on his network doesn't "really have rules" and exists "strictly to be entertaining," in an interview published Thursday.

"Some of our opinion programming is there strictly to be entertaining," Smith told Time Magazine's Daniel D'Addario in a piece titled, "Shep Smith Has the Hardest Job on Fox News."

“We serve different masters," Smith, 54, added when discussing the difference between the opinion side of Fox News, including shows such as "The Sean Hannity Show," and the network's news division. "We work for different reporting chains, we have different rules. They don’t really have rules on the opinion side. They can say whatever they want. If it’s their opinion."

The interview comes as the network announced today it is re-signing the veteran anchor to a multiyear contract as Fox's chief news anchor and managing editor of breaking news. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"I don’t really watch a lot of opinion programming," Smith continued. "I’m busy.”

-snip-

[Maven]

1. Yeah, okay, whatever you need to tell yourself Shep.

You occasionally get accused of having integrity, so thanks for setting the record straight, I guess.

[YessirAtsaFact]

3. Given where he works, he is a remarkably ethical journalist

Never mind that that was a minimum standard in print journalism when I was in j-school.

He did tell the truth here: "Some of our opinion programming is there strictly to be entertaining," Smith told Time Magazine's Daniel D'Addario...

Opinion content tailored to entertain the looney tunes right.

[Maven]

4. Saying there are no rules for their commentators is willful blindness at best,

And brazen intellectual dishonesty at worst.

It is well established at this point that Fox (so-called) News coordinates their messaging with GOP talking points. Moreover, at least one former Fox panelist described a well-choreographed routine at Fox in which a “weak” liberal would be paired with a “strong” right-winger on a panel, and a scripted battle would ensue. By the end, of course, the liberal would invariably be shot down/humiliated and the right-winger would emerge victorious. Basically wish fulfillment for angry, older white (mostly) males who have been turned into anger junkies looking for their next fix.

So much for Shep’s ethics.

[radical noodle]

9. It's Smith's way of saying that

the commentators lie at will. I've seen him (Smith) contradict the GOP talking points more than once. I think he's the only one on Faux that actually gives real news sometimes.

[sharedvalues]

14. Thank you. Fox is propaganda

If you need data to support your excellent points, this article is groundbreaking:
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/bias-cable-news-persuasion-polarization

[JHB]

2. There IS a rule... but it's something akin to "political fellatio"...

Something that perks up one side, and actual facts be damned.

[malthaussen]

5. It has ever been thus.

This is why, since time immemorial, organizations have used the disclaimer that the opinions expressed in editorials or interviews do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishing organization. If the viewer is unable to discern between opinion and fact, that's his problem.

-- Mal

[sharedvalues]

12. No. false idea of "unbiased" news is recent

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11742641

[Initech]

6. Rules? Rules are for triggered snowflakes! We don't need them!

[Liberalagogo]

7. Then don't effing call yourself...

NEWS.

[Angry Dragon]

8. KICK

[7962]

10. Thats pretty much the norm on any network. "opinion" programs are just that, opinions.

Just like Smith says. None of them can claim to be journalists. Even the actual journalists who do opinion shows. Left or right, they are going to spin their point of view
Reporting the actual news SHOULD have different rules

[sharedvalues]

13. No. Fox is propaganda. Proven difference from other networks.

This high-quality paper in a high-profile econ journal is data-driven proof that Fox is propaganda.

The paper shows that Fox changes votes. And MSNBC does not. And Fox is far more biased than the profit-maximizing strategy (as if their executives use them as propaganda). And MSNBC is not.

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/bias-cable-news-persuasion-polarization

Don't equate Fox with other networks. Fox is propaganda. MSNBC is centrist infotainment with some investigative shows. They are totally different.

[sharedvalues]

11. IT'S FREAKING PROPAGANDA, Shep. And you are complicit.

It's propaganda to get votes for billionaires. That's what Fox News is about. Shep, you're just the window dressing that makes the propaganda look legitimate. Your'e complicit.