We were scheduled to see Dr. Jim Pratt’s protege, Shep Smith.
Patrizia Barkley, Shep’s assistant, had greeted us in the lobby of the Fox News building at a few minutes before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the last day of March, and we had settled on chairs a few feet from the news set when Shepard Smith came sauntering in to Studio B, accompanied by his father.
He sat down behind the news desk and fitted an ear phone in place while a make up artist dabbed his face here and there. He clicked on a computer and talked to various staff members and a mysterious presence in another room.
A countdown began and then the Ole Miss alumnus from Holly Springs led a fast paced news show with quick give and take and unusual cuts to uncommon perspectives. This is the hard news programming of daytime Fox News.
