This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

Shepard Smith, the Fox News anchor who was arguably most critical of Donald Trump, left the network on Friday.

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As he did so, he expressed the hope that “facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive”.

Smith’s departure comes amid evidence of a schism between news and opinion anchors at Fox News, over Trump and the network’s coverage of him.

Smith, 55, has repeatedly called out the president for his falsehoods and attacks on the media. Late last month, he condemned Trump’s false corruption allegations against Joe Biden, now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry, as “baseless” and a “conspiracy theory”.

Trump has lashed out at Smith, other Fox News hosts and Fox News polls. Told of Smith’s departure at the White House on Friday, the president said: “Is he leaving? Oh that’s a shame. Is he leaving because he had bad ratings?”

In fact Smith‘s show averaged nearly 1.3 million viewers over the last three months, the Nielsen company said, which beats CNN and MSNBC.

Trump’s tweets reveal him still to be an avid Fox News viewer and opinion hosts including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham remain fervent supporters. Fox’s prime-time opinion-led lineup, with more viewers available, generally gets around 3 million viewers.

Furthermore, former Trump aides including Hope Hicks and Sarah Sanders are now on the Fox payroll and this week the attorney general, William Barr, was reported to have met the Fox News owner, Rupert Murdoch, in private in New York. On Friday, representatives for Smith cautioned reporters against linking the meeting with the anchor’s departure.

JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) Shepard Smith:



“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." pic.twitter.com/ZJHszeBHS4

Smith signed a three-year contract extension with Fox News last year but on Friday he announced his departure on air, telling viewers he had asked to leave.

“Gathering and reporting the news has been my life’s work,” he said. “Thirty-three years, the last 23 right here, since we launched Fox News channel in 1996. The opportunities afforded this guy from small-town Mississippi have been many.”

Smith listed big stories he worked on, including the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the Columbine school shooting. He said he had endeavored to “speak truth to power without fear or favor, in context and with respect”.

“Recently I asked the company to be allowed to leave Fox News,” he said. “After asking that I stay, they obliged.”

The CNN media reporter Brian Stelter quoted a Fox News source as saying: “It was clear he wasn’t happy, on air and off air.” Another said, “I think it probably just got to be too much” for him, Stelter reported.

CNN also reported sources saying “the breaking point for Smith was the tension between him and the opinion side of Fox”, and said that after recent on-air disagreements with Trump-supporting hosts and personalities, Smith “was reminded about the Fox’s old adage regarding ‘not shooting inside the tent’”.

A Fox News spokesperson denied such claims, saying they were “entirely false and wildly inaccurate”.

Smith said he would not be reporting elsewhere for the time being.

“Even in our currently polarized nation,” he concluded, “it is my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive.”

Carl Cameron, a longtime former reporter at Fox, pointed to other news anchors seen as more independent of the pro-Trump line when he told the Associated Press: “The news department has just taken a huge hit with the loss of Shep. For journalists like Chris Wallace and Bret Baier, it’s going to get even harder.”

Neil Cavuto, who anchors the broadcast following Smith‘s, looked shocked after his colleague made the announcement.

“Whoa,” Cavuto said. “Like you, I’m a little stunned.”