![]() At the time, Smith said Channel 5 had the first live truck in Memphis. He was also influenced to become a reporter by Memphis news media. “All that time, I was thinking, if I could just get over there and find out what’s happening, and let mom and dad know, we could avoid these discussions,” he said. His family often disagreed about the Vietnam War. Smith was bitten by the news bug as a child while sitting at the breakfast table. “It felt important to me at the time … I wanted to operate in the public interest … and I wanted to be their eyes and ears, and let them know what’s happening, so they could decide what they think about what’s going on in the world.” “All the time, I’m just kind of chasing ambulances and trying to find out what is going on, going to city council meetings and trying to make it relatable at a time when television is how people are getting their news,” he said. He also learned fundamental journalism lessons at Ole Miss and took a job in Panama City, Florida, in 1987 without graduating from the UM journalism program, citing an economic recession as his reason for staying with the company. They really translate to everything else.” So you learn these little things in life. “If you give them three ketchups for every (order of) fries, you’re going to go broke. “Like if you (give customers) two and three napkins instead of two napkins, you’re just screwed if that happens over, and over, and over again,” he said. “I really learned about little things,” he said. Some came from working at a fast food restaurant, one of the most important things he said he ever did. Smith said he’s carried many fundamental lessons learned in Mississippi throughout his career. In the process, we have become so proud of the journalism values that Shep Smith espouses and truly grateful for his promotion of his roots on this campus.” “Through the years, we have watched him develop into this smooth, sophisticated television personality who represents the best of the profession. He was this energetic young guy carrying equipment around everywhere, thinking that he could make a difference, and he has. He was like so many of you (journalism students) in the 1980s. “He anchors most primetime news presentations provided by Fox News. “His reporting has been a trademark of the Fox News channel,” Norton said. The crowed laughed Friday afternoon as Norton spoke about Smith’s career, a journey that took him to Gainesville, Fort Myers, Miami, Orlando and Los Angeles before establishing himself in New York City. “So my immediate response was: ‘Well, he’ll never amount to anything,’” Norton said. When the school year began again in the fall of Smith’s senior year, he made a decision that caused Pratt to remark to Norton: “Shep decided to stay in Florida and take the job. Smith left Ole Miss during his junior year of college for a Florida internship. ![]() “He immediately identified Shep as this young guy who would have a great future.” “He was a great man who worked hard with students outside and inside of class, and one of his first students was Shepard Smith,” Norton said. Meek School Dean Will Norton said the department was filled with print professors, but after three years of searching, they hired the late professor Jim Pratt, Ph.D., who had spent 40 years with CBS. In the fall of 1979, broadcast journalism was added to UM’s journalism program. Smith believes his sexuality is a piece of his personal story, but not the most defining factor. Smith is a Holly Springs native, a New Yorker of 20 years, a Mississippian, a former University of Mississippi journalism student, and a devoted Ole Miss Rebels fan.īecause of all of those factors, he was a featured speaker at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media’s “It Starts With MEek” conference last week, an event that promotes diversity and inclusivity. He was there when Hurricane Katrina destroyed parts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, making sure the nation understood the severity of conditions that ravaged the region, transforming the lives of its residents.Īt one time, Smith worked the Pentagon, the White House, Los Angeles and London, all in the same week, and he has been on the frontlines of American and international news helping write a first draft of history. He covered the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire on their classmates before taking their own lives. He was on the scene five minutes after planes deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center on 9-11. He covered the 1997 death of Princess Diana. ![]() As the chief news anchor and managing editor of Fox News Network’s breaking news division, Shepard Smith has seen it all.
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