Tag: CNBC

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Shepard Smith Will Host One-Hour News Show On CNBC

Shepard Smith (screen capture)
Openly gay news anchor Shepard Smith, formerly of Fox News, has been announced to host a one-hour news telecast on CNBC at 7 pm ET beginning this fall. After 23 years at Fox News, Smith abruptly announced his departure from the conservative-leaning news outlet last October after being warned of criticizing both Donald Trump and his Fox News ally, Tucker Carlson. From CNBC:

The newscast, which will be called “The News with Shepard Smith,” is set to launch in the fall. Smith’s title will be chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor.

Smith joins CNBC after spending 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he anchored “Shepard Smith Reporting,” “The Fox Report” and “Studio B.” He also served as chief news anchor of the network and managing editor of the breaking news division.

“I am honored to continue to pursue the truth, both for CNBC’s loyal viewers and for those who have been following my reporting for decades in good times and in bad,” Smith said in a press release.

CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman said Smith has a track record of fact-driven storytelling.

“We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise,” Hoffman said in the press release. “We’re thrilled that Shep, who’s built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC.”

Dan Colarusso, CNBC’s senior vice president of business news, said Smith’s program aims to go beyond financial markets, “to tell rich, deeply reported stories across the entire landscape of global news.”

Smith casually came out during an interview with HuffPost in October 2016.

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CNBC’s Joe Kernan calls out Rick Perry on comparing gays to alcoholism

CNBC Squawk Box host Joe Kernan called Texas Governor Rick Perry on his remarks comparing homosexuality to alcoholism in a segment that aired Monday morning. Here’s just a bit of what went on.

Joe Kernan:

“In terms of comparing it to alcoholism, that’s what got all the play, and i don’t — I have a really high bar for what I would take offense to, but that would exceed the bar for me on being an offensive comment. I don’t think gay marriage leads to cirrhosis of the liver or domestic violence or DWIs. I don’t see how that’s similar.”

Perry tried to spin his comments as an issue of “states right,” but Kernan was clearly not going to let the governor get off so easily:

“But in terms of changing the behavior of someone…you wouldn’t think that someone who’s heterosexual, that you couldn’t change them into a homosexual, or someone who is homosexual, you don’t think that there should be therapy to try to change them into a heterosexual?”

At one point when Perry says that the issue of homosexuality should be left “to the psychologists and the doctors,” Kernan jumps in:

“The psychologists they’ve already weighed in. they’ve dismissed the idea that sexual orientation is a mental disorder and they’ve told their mental health professionals to avoid telling clients that you can change your sexual orientation…”

Near the end of the interview segment, Kernan says:

“It just seems like the Republican Party is going to be forever behind the curve on this issue.”

I can’t express how I appreciate a journalist holding a politician responsible for something they said. Rick Perry said these things, and Joe Kernan held him to it and asked for answers.

No softball lobbed here.

(via Towleroad)