Shepard Smith: How Fox News Has Changed the Media Landscape

SHEPHERD, THAT WAS PRETTY DRAMATIC AND PRETTY BRAVE.

YOU JUST DROPPED THE MIC ON THE PRESIDENT AND YOU SAID, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

WHAT -- TELL ME WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR HEAD AT THE TIME AND ALSO AS YOU LOOK BACK, I'M SURE YOU'VE SEEN IT MANY, MANY TIMES.

WELL, HONESTLY, I HAVEN'T.

I'VE BEEN BUSY.

BUT I WILL SAY WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A HELLISH DAY AND I HAD BEEN ON THE AIR MAYBE SEVEN HOURS WITHOUT A COMMERCIAL.

AND WHEN YOU HEAR THE PRESIDENT IS PUTTING OUT A VIDEO AFTER HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE, HAVE ATTACKED THE CAPITOL AND THREATENED TO KILL SOME OF OUR LEADERS, YOU KNOW, YOU JUST SORT OF ANTICIPATE THAT THIS WILL BE A QUIETED DOWN, EVERYBODY GO HOME, THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WANT MOMENT.

AND INSTEAD, HE USED IT TO LIE AGAIN AND WE REACHED A LIMIT.

WE ARE HERE TO BE ARBITERS OF TRUTH, TO SEEK THE TRUTH, TO FIND THE TRUTH, TO TELL THE TRUTH NO MATTER WHO IS HAPPY OR UNHAPPY ABOUT IT.

THE TRUTH IS THE ELECTION WAS AS FREE AND FAIR AS ANY.

HIS OWN PEOPLE SAID IT.

ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN LITIGATED.

AND TO BRING IT UP ON THE HEELS OF ONE OF THE MOST HISTORICALLY TRAGIC MOMENTS OF MY LIFETIME, TO SEE THE CAPITOL OVERRUN FROM THAT WAS PERSONALLY PAINFUL I THINK FOR EVERYONE I KNOW.

AND FOR HIM TO COME OUT AND PROPAGATE HIS LIES AGAIN, HE'S NOT GOING TO DO IT ON MY AIR.

NOT THEN AND NOT AGAIN.

DO YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT, HAD YOU STILL BEEN SITTING AT THE ANCHOR DESK AT 7:00 P.M.? I THINK I REMEMBER THAT WAS YOUR TIME SLOT AT FOX.

I CAN AND I DID.

I FEEL LIKE THE RULES OF JOURNALISM I LEARNED IN UNIVERSITY A LONG TIME AGO, AND THE MAIN THING IS WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GUARDIANS OF THE PUBLIC TRUST.

OURS IS THE ONLY -- OURS IS THE ONLY PROFESSION ENSHRINED IN THE CONSTITUTION.

THE FOUNDING FATHERS THOUGHT IT WAS SO IMPORTANT THAT IT SHOULD BE THERE.

WE'RE SUPPOSED TO FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING AND TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT.

IF SOMEBODY IS USING MY PLATFORM, THE PLATFORM WHICH I'M HONORED TO OCCUPY, TO SPREAD FALSEHOODS, INACCURACIES OR DISOR MISINFORMATION, I'M DUTY BOUND TO CUT THAT OFF.

BECAUSE I SERVE THE VIEWER.

AS A JOURNALIST -- YOU KNOW THIS, CHRISTIANE, BETTER THAN ANYBODY ON EARTH.

I SERVE THE VIEWER.

AND MY JOB IS TO MAKE SURE THAT I GET IT EXACTLY RIGHT EVERY TIME.

AND FURTHER, IF I MESS IT UP, AND I WILL, TO CORRECT IT WITH THE SAME VOLUME AND IN THE SAME SPACE THAT I DID BEFORE.

I'M NOT GOING TO LET SOMEONE COME ON MY AIR AND LIE IN A DEMONSTRABLE WAY.

I'VE NEVER DONE THAT.

I'M NOT STARTING NOW.