What’s Up With Shepard Smith and His Relationship with Fox??

August 08, 2012

What’s Up With Shepard Smith and His Relationship with Fox??

By Merrill Knox

Fox News anchors Shepard Smith andMegyn Kelly are the focus of a Buzzfeed article on the network’s coverage of gay rights.

Kelly is cited for her comments on “America Live” last week during a segment on last week’s Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. “This country has a long history of discrimination against certain groups. Eventually we wind up getting it right. Right? Against women, against blacks, the civil rights movement and so on,” she said (video is after the jump).

The frequently unscripted Smith — who also weighed in on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, calling it “national day of intolerance” — said after President Obama endorsed gay marriage that the Republican party is “sitting very firmly without much question on the wrong side of history,” which Buzzfeed says has drawn reaction from FNC execs:

Another former Fox employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that in fact, higher-ups actively frown on Smith’s outspokenness.

“Shep is on really thin ice,” the former employee said. “If he wasn’t so popular and highly rated (and highly paid) Roger [Ailes] would have yanked him off the air months ago.”

A (current) Fox News insider with actual knowledge of inner workings of the network tells TVNewser that thin ice “couldn’t be further from reality.”

Smith, who has been with Fox News since it launched in 1996, is reported to be under a long term contract with the network.