Shepard Smith To Join CNBC And Anchor Evening News Program

Ted Johnson
·3 min read

Click here to read the full article.

Shepard Smith is joining CNBC as anchor of an evening news program, ending speculation of his next plans after his departure from Fox News last year.

The newscast, The News with Shepard Smith, will air Monday through Friday at 7pm ET, starting in the fall.

More from Deadline

Smith will be based at CNBC’s headquarters in Engelwood Cliffs, NJ starting on July 13.

Smith also will take the title of the network’s chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor, as well as executive editor of the nightly newscast.

“Gathering and reporting the news has been my life’s work,” Smith said in a statement. “I am honored to continue to pursue the truth, both for CNBC’s loyal viewers and for those who have been following my reporting for decades in good times and in bad.”

He said that CNBC’s chairman, Mark Hoffman, “presented me with CNBC’s vision for a fact-based, hour-long evening news program with the mission to cut through the static to deliver facts, in context and with perspective. I know I found a great home for my newscast. I am excited to be working with the exceptional talent at CNBC and eager to build a team focused on uncovering the news behind the headlines.”

Smith abruptly left Fox News in October, after 23 years at the news channel. His spokesman at the time said his decision to depart was “Shep’s decision and his alone.” He had been calling out President Donald Trump for, among other things, his attacks on the media, a contrast to the favorable treatment of the channel’s nightly opinion hosts. Some of the tensions between the news and opinion sides of the channel also had spilled out in the open, while Trump attacked Smith on Twitter.

“Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News. After requesting that I stay, they obliged. Under our agreement I won’t be reporting elsewhere, at least in the near future,” Smith said.

Since his departure, there has been wide speculation as to where he would land next. CNBC has been looking to boost its primetime schedule, which is now filled with reality and talk programming, including Shark Tank and Jay Leno’s Garage. In his statement, Hoffman said that Smith’s show will “serve as the perfect bridge between CNBC’s daytime investor-focused news programming and the network’s aspirational business-oriented entertainment programs in primetime.”

Smith will appear on CNBC on Thursday morning to talk about the new show.

Since departing Fox News, he has said little. At a Committee to Protect Journalists fundraising event in November, Smith made general remarks about the dangers to press freedom.

“Intimidation and vilification of the press is now a global phenomenon,” he said, according to The New York Times. “We don’t have to look far for evidence of that.”

More to come.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.