The only Fox News employee to whom the Media Research Center refuses to give a pass is Shepard Smith, on account of the fact that he’s a straight-news person at a channel full of right-wing ideologues, which means he’s a liberal in the MRC’s eyes.
When Smith gave an interview to Time magazine in which he emphasized his news-side work, as opposed to the right-wing opinionators that populate the rest of the channel, the MRC took offense.
A March 16 post by Randy Hall highlighted that Smith’s statement that Fox News’ opinion side doesn’t “really have rules” and exists “strictly to be entertaining” has apparently “irritated” those opinion hosts, particularly Sean Hannity, who huffed that Smith is “clueless” about what his show does.
Tim Graham aimed for full derangement mode in a March 27 post, lashing out at Smith’s “arrogant dismissal of his Fox News colleagues” and complaining that the Time interview “routinely — like many media liberals — portrays Smith as on the ‘fact side,’ even as they enjoy his criticisms of President Trump.” Graham also complained that “There’s almost zero quotes pushing back on Smith’s arrogance.”
After noting that Time called Smith “despised” by part of the Fox News audience “for telling them what they don’t want to hear,” Graham huffed: “We would rewrite it like this: Smith is ‘despised for sounding like he’s trying out for CNN or MSNBC.’ It’s the liberal media who describe a liberal tilt as what people need to hear.” If Graham had actually bothered to prove that Smith’s reporting is liberal — as opposed to appearing liberal compared with the rest of the Fox News lineup — he might have a point.