Interesting Quote: Shepard Smith

“Over the past 18 years, we’ve had the privilege of working with Shepard Smith throughout his incredible rise from a field reporter to chief news anchor and his recent promotion to managing editor. Throughout his entire tenure here, Roger Ailes and I have fully supported him in both a professional and personal capacity. We have never asked Shep to discuss or not discuss his private life, and the notion of us having an issue with anyone’s sexuality is not only insulting, but pure fiction. We renewed his contract in June 2013 based on this full support as well as his exemplary journalism. He’s the gold standard of this profession and we’re extremely proud to call him the face of our news division.”

source

Was Shepard Smith demoted by Fox News after telling them he wanted to Come Out?

The streets are talking and word is Fox News anchor Shepard Smith was demoted after he approached Roger Ailes about coming out as gay. And... Roger maybe, possibly demoted Shep from his prime-time slot to an afternoon slot.

Gawker reports:

A few weeks before approaching Ailes about coming out, Smith surprised Fox staffers by bringing his boyfriend, a 26-year-old Fox producer named Gio Graziano, to a company picnic at Ailes’s compound in Garrison, New York. Held annually on Independence Day weekend, the picnic is a small gathering—only executives, on-air talent, and their frontline producers are invited—so Smith likely felt comfortable bringing along his steady partner.

Despite the intimate venue, the new couple put several Fox executives on high alert. According to multiple sources with knowledge of the picnic, the most dramatic reaction came from Bill Shine, the channel’s Executive Vice President of Programming. Shine “flipped out,” one source said, when Smith introduced Graziano to attendees. (Within and outside of Fox, Shine, who is 50 and grew up on Long Island, carries a reputation for insensitivity toward gay people. “He’s a major, major homophobe,” a Fox insider said.)

Hmmm, if that's the case, why is he still there?

Fox News Benches Karl Rove and Dick Morris

After making a fool of himself on election night, Fox News tells Karl to have a seat.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes wants Karl Rove and Dick Morris take a long break from the network.

The NYT reports

Ailes’s deputy, Fox News programming chief Bill Shine, has sent out orders mandating that producers must get permission before booking Rove or Morris. Both pundits made several appearances in the days after the election, but their visibility on the network has dropped markedly. Inside Fox News, Morris’s Romney boosterism and reality-denying predictions became a punch line. At a rehearsal on the Saturday before the election, according to a source, anchor Megyn Kelly chuckled when she relayed to colleagues what someone had told her: “I really like Dick Morris. He’s always wrong but he makes me feel good.”

A Fox spokesperson confirmed the new booking rules for Rove and Morris, and explained that Shine’s message was “the election’s over.”

 Well, Karl and Dick must feel like crap, and that's music to my soul.

Fox News CEO speaks about Karl Rove Meltdown

Roger Ailes talked about the infamous Election Night Meltdown on Fox News. Like many people, Roger was surprised at Karl's behavior:

“It only took 15 minutes to get home,” Ailes told TVNewser in a lengthy interview in his office Thursday. “I turn on the TV and the first thing I see is Rove saying something like ‘you called Ohio too early.’ And I thought, ‘What the? What is this?’” 

Ailes watched as his highly-paid pundit was challenging his decision desk’s call which would give the election to Pres. Obama. 

“So I quickly called [EVP of News] Michael Clemente and I said, ‘Michael whatever you do, don’t go to commercial. Don’t leave the screen.’” 

Ailes instructed Clemente to have Megyn Kelly, “go confront the decision team. If you have to, make the decision team confront Rove.” Confrontation is Roger Ailes’ middle name. (Actually it’s Eugene) 

Ailes says transparency was the key, telling Clemente, “‘We can’t do anything off camera.’ I didn’t want the public or our competitors to say we somehow panicked and didn’t confront the truth on camera.” 

“As it turned out Rove was wrong. He backed down. Our guys were right. We stayed with it. Megyn did her famous walk down the hall. And it all worked out.”

It made for good TV, I'll tell you that.

source