Shepard Smith says new CNBC show will be free of opinion and pundits

By Michael P. Hill Article may include affiliate links

As part of his first appearance on CNBC, former Fox anchor Shepard Smith discussed the vision for his new show on the network.

Set for a fall debut, the show will be called “The News with Shepard Smith” and will be free of opinion and pundits, Smith told CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla during a live interview July 9, 2020.

The interview was Smith’s first appearance on the network since the announcement was made and was, perhaps not so ironically, interrupted by a breaking SCOTUS decision.

Smith envisions “The News” as “Nobody telling you what to think or how to feel. Just the facts.”

The interview notably avoided mentioning Smith’s former employer, the conservative commentary channel owned by Fox Media, but did make not so thinly veiled references to opinion based broadcasting.

“If you want to tune in at night and hear the opinion that’s opposite from yours or you want to have your own feelings amplified, then go ahead. But if what you’re looking for is a newscast, you’re hard pressed to find that on cable,” Smith noted, also adding that many of his friends work in “opinion journalism.”

Smith also pledged accuracy and noted that when his broadcast does get something wrong, it will acknowledge the error clearly.