Shepard Smith left Fox News in 2019 after years of mounting frustration with what he saw as misinformation and opinion-driven segments on the network that clashed with his focus on straight news reporting.

Quick Scoop: Why He Left

  • He was one of Fox News’ original anchors, there from the 1996 launch until his surprise on‑air resignation in October 2019.
  • Smith asked to be released from a still-active multi‑year contract, and Fox executives did try to persuade him to stay, which he has confirmed in interviews.
  • In later comments, he said his position became “untenable” as prime‑time opinion shows pushed claims he believed were false, while he was trying to deliver strictly factual reporting.
  • He has framed his exit as a decision to protect his journalistic integrity and his commitment to “facts first” rather than continue battling against misleading commentary on the same network.

In His Own Framing

  • Smith has said his goal at Fox was to make sure viewers “got it straight” when they were being misinformed, but that he eventually felt he had reached “diminishing returns” and “couldn’t take it anymore.”
  • At his final Fox sign‑off, he emphasized truth‑telling, thanked colleagues, and noted that he had requested permission to leave and “begin a new chapter,” signaling it was his choice rather than a sudden firing.

What He Did After Fox

  • In 2020 he launched “The News with Shepard Smith” on CNBC, marketed as a straight, facts‑only nightly newscast, again highlighting his preference for non‑partisan reporting.
  • The show later ended as CNBC shifted back toward business‑heavy programming, but his post‑Fox career has consistently leaned into the same identity: a newsman who left Fox to stay aligned with his own standards for factual journalism.

TL;DR: When people ask “why did Shepard Smith leave Fox,” the core answer is that he chose to walk away from a powerful perch because he felt the network’s opinion side was undermining factual news and his ability to do the kind of journalism he believed in.

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