Shepard Smith and the News

 Shepard Smith is in a good mood these days.

The former Fox News personality has a new program on CNBC, "The News with Shepard Smith," which airs weeknights at 7:00 P.M. Eastern time.  Smith certainly looks relaxed in hosting this program, a mix of straight news, light commentary, and human-interest stories.  (The latter segment is the weak element of the program, of course, as, with all newscasts, "human-interest  stories are the type of tidbits no human would be interested in.)  The program is refreshingly low-keyed, informative on the basic news stories, and well-paced overall.  Also, Smith benefits from being part of the NBC/Universal family, getting good backup from commentators and reporters commonly seen on CNBC's sister channel MSNBC.   The fact that such a measured newscast would debut in the most explosive week of news since the week in March and April 1968 that saw Lyndon Johnson's withdraw from that year's presidential campaign and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination makes such a newscast all the more remarkable.

One thing that is not remarkable is the TV rating. Smith's program is a success by CNBC standards, but its ratings performance is lukewarm compared to other cable newscasts on in its timeslot.  It should do just fine where it is, though, with both regard to its scheduling and its channel.  CNBC sees this show as something up to date and timely for early-prime time, something informative for people to watch on the business-oriented channel after the markets have closed and Jim Cramer has said his last peace on the financial news of the day.  Smith certainly seems glad to be there, having endured and having had to deliver so much B.S. at Fox, where he got in trouble simply for doing his job the way he's supposed to.  The good thing about working for an NBC/Universal channel is that Smith has the total freedom to be a responsible journalist in a way that no one at Fox not named Chris Wallace can.  I'm rooting for Shep, and I hope his new program is a mainstay of CNBC's evening fare going forward.