Shepard Smith from wikipedia

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, Florida (1985), a reporter for WBBH-TV in Fort Myers, reporter/anchor in Miami with WSVN and as a reporter at WCPX-TV (now WKMG-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 the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, to provide news reports on the events and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The Fox Report with Shepard Smith remains the top-rated newscast in cable news and is ranked third in the top programs in U.S. cable news.^[6] Shepard Smith tied for second (along with Dan Rather and Peter Jennings) as the most trusted news anchor on both network and cable news in a 2003 TV Guide poll.^[7] 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 and 8 million per year. This contract places Smith into the same pay league as anchors Brian Williams of NBC and Charles Gibson of ABC.^[8]

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. The Kirby Dick film Outrage alleges that Smith is living as a closeted gay man.^[9][10][11]

In November 2000, Smith found himself the subject of the news, while he was in FloridaSt. Petersburg Times reported that he had been arrested on November 17 for aggravated battery with a motor vehicle.^[12] The alleged victim was Maureen Walsh, another reporter who was also in Florida covering the election controversy. According to the Tallahassee Democrat, on July 20, 2001, the charge "was reduced to misdemeanor battery" and dismissed after "both sides agreed to a confidential payoff" during June 2001.^[13] covering the Florida ballot counting controversy. The

In April 2009, in response to the claim that techniques such as waterboarding may have been effective in fighting terrorism, Smith said in an online Fox News show, "I don't give a rat's ass if it helps. We are America! We do not fucking torture!"^[14]