TVNewser will be stopping by the TV news networks on this Election Day 2016 to give you a look at what’s going on behind the scenes. Next stop: FOX
Longtime Fox Newser Shepard Smith is not exactly a stranger to election night coverage, whether it be for Fox News or FOX Broadcast and its affiliates. The host of Shepard Smith Reporting has been covering election night for FNC since it began in 1996 and for FOX Broadcasting since 2004.
“I feel great tonight,” Smith told TVNewser. “We love the process, the crunching of the numbers and figuring out what the trends mean and trying to forecast what that means for the country in the short term and the long term, and bring you a little context into that,” said Smith. “That’s what we feel like our role here is.”
Will the tone of his FOX broadcast be different than his Fox News coverage?
“We have done many of these on the broadcast network, and the broadcast network is not typically an audience that watches this process every day and as closely as FNC,” says Smith. “So, we change our mindset, and we have to tell our audience what was projected and what it was that the trends had been and how things happen. It’s really a different way of presenting, and I enjoy this because the very basics of it all. If you’re talking over people’s heads with minutiae, it can be pretty off-putting. Again, we feel like we have an audience of millions who maybe haven’t paid as much attention as others, and maybe we can bring them a little something. That’s the goal.”
We also asked Smith for his thoughts about how the media has seemingly become an integral part of this election and threats on journalists.
“I mean, the verbal attacking is one thing, but inciting people to hurt others who are just doing their jobs is a problem,” said Smith. “But maybe we’ll all learn from this. Now, can we be better stewards of the public trust? I think we can be. Do we need to take a look at how we have covered this race?” Yes, Smith concluded.
Shepard Smith prepping for tonight’s election night broadcast on FOX
A look at the America’s Election HQ, where Smith will be broadcasting from
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