Shepard Smith decries 'press vilification' in first speech since leaving Fox News

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Smith decries press 'intimidation', first speech after Fox News Shepard Smith, a frequent on-air Trump critic during his Fox News tenure, urged for press protection at the 2019 International Press Freedom Awards.

Former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith railed against authoritarian governments who are making it difficult and dangerous for a free press in his first public words since leaving the network last month.

Smith, a frequent on-air Trump critic during his Fox tenure, urged for press protection in his passionate speech as host of the 2019 International Press Freedom Awards on Thursday in New York City.

"Intimidation and vilification of the press is now a global phenomena," said Smith, alluding to, but never mentioning, President Donald Trump in his speech. "We don’t have to look far for evidence of that."

Smith's decision to leave Fox News in October came at time when Trump was increasingly vocal against the network's personalities he felt were turning disloyal. Smith had served as the network's chief news anchor and managing editor of its breaking news unit and had worked at Fox News since its inception in 1996.

Fox News' Shepard Smith steps down: The move stuns colleagues

Shepard Smith leaves Fox News after over two decades with network Shepard Smith, the network's chief news anchor and managing editor of its breaking news unit, has worked at Fox News since its inception in 1996.

In giving out the Committee to Protect Journalists awards to six recipients from around the world, Smith discussed the increasingly hostile online government retaliation frequently waged against the media.

"Our belief a decade ago that the online revolution would liberate us now seems a bit premature," Smith said. "Autocrats have learned how to use those same online tools to shore up their power. They flood the world of information with garbage and lies masquerading as news. … There’s a phrase for that."

He continued: "They dispatch troll armies after critical reporters, who are vilified and harassed. their personal information – such as phone numbers, address, ID numbers – posted and published as an invitation for even more attacks."

Smith praised the journalists exposing wrongdoing under authoritarian governments.

“In other words, they did their jobs as reporters and editors in countries that portray themselves as democracies," he said.

Smith admitted that surveying the current media landscape "can be depressing; it is for me." He encouraged the audience to support the CPJ, which aids journalists, as something to be done to combat "corrosive forces eating away at our liberties."

Smith gave a bipartisan plea to protect the free media.

"Press freedom is not the preserve of one political group or one political party; it’s a value embedded in our very foundational documents," he said. "Journalists need to join hands to defend it."