Shep Smith’s sluggish CNBC premiere includes a head-scratching chart
Posted: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020
In his CNBC premiere, Shepard Smith made clear Wednesday (9/30) that his show will be regularly fact-checking claims of Donald Trump.
Oh joy.
Seeking, and promising, a niche in the hyper-crowded cable news space, Smith's inaugural show delivered more of the same — skepticism and disbelief at this person's presidency.
How much will that sell? Smith might've found the answer if he had simply flipped his first episode upside down.
Without giving specifics, CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman told the Associated Press this week that "I felt we had a concept we had been thinking about for a number of years that just might fit his interests."
Reinventing a cable TV news show and the 7 p.m. Eastern time slot ... Smith has a bigger uphill battle than Trump's 7-or-whatever-point polling deficit.
"Our mission is deliver the facts, in context and with perspective," Smith promised on his first night.
A lot of CNBC viewers, having seen the promotional commercials millions of times this summer and early autumn, likely wondered what exactly Smith would be talking about every night. Certainly, until late January, the answer is "presidential politics."
There are different ways to do that. Few things interest Donald Trump more than cable TV ratings. Smith could've helped his own cause by making some sort of splash that ended up — favorably or otherwise — on Trump's Twitter feed. But apparently, the president didn't even notice Wednesday's premiere. (Keep in mind that the name of the show is "The News with Shepard Smith.") If Trump's not watching, viewers likely aren't either.
Granted, these are not easy times to launch a TV show. But what happened to the booking? Usually for a premiere, VIPs are lined up to ensure a few headlines. For reasons we can't fathom, Smith's CNBC debut lacked any star guests or even Jim Cramer. Here's a great time to get George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, one of the Clintons, or Steve Mnuchin or Nancy Pelosi. Smith instead had Michael Beschloss and Scott Gottlieb, the latter being a CNBC staple at this hour all spring as COVID developed.
The most interesting angle of presidential politics was a downright bungle. Steve Kornacki unveiled a poll purporting to show, out of voters who say they could change their minds based on the Supreme Court, something or other ...
The graphic said Trump 69%, Biden 31%. "By a more than 2 to 1 margin, they favor Trump," said Kornacki, who said this is a small group but nevertheless one that might be favorable to Trump.
What in the world does that mean? If their minds are changeable on this subject, does that mean the 69% are already voting for Biden? And they're waiting to see if Chuck Schumer pulls off a block to determine their presidential vote?
If Smith is determined to rely on polls such as this to deliver "facts in context," this is going to be a disaster.
Kornacki also said a poll shows Trump is struggling with seniors concerned about COVID. Kornacki's best chart showed the 2016 electoral map with Michigan and Pennsylvania flipped. But while Kornacki trumpeted that turning those states blue would put Biden on the “cusp” of victory, he failed to note that Biden would still have to flip another state.
After an opening statement, Smith led off the show tackling not the changeable-Supreme-Court-whatever bloc but Trump's complaints about ... mail voting.
Smith declared that NBC News and CNBC "have seen no evidence to back up the president's claims" about massive mail-voting fraud. He brought in CNBC's capable D.C. honcho, Eamon Javers, who played a clip from a New Mexico Democrat who assures that there's no risk to mail voting.
If Smith is adamant about fact-checking, he could've addressed, for example, Joe Biden's claim that Donald Trump is the worst president the country has ever had. There is something for both sides in that discussion.
Also Wednesday, a couple of NBC News reporters said they spoke to a couple of people who were not impressed by Donald Trump and more impressed by Joe Biden.
Smith harped on "Stand back and stand by," and CNBC's Frank Holland, in one of the show's more productive segments, explained the origins of the Proud Boys.
At the 13-minute mark, Beschloss was brought in to verify Smith's observation that "There's never been such a thing as last night."
Beschloss stated that in "all of history," there's never been a presidential debate "this far out of control." Some of Beschloss' commentary was hard to understand because of mike problems.
Smith notably ignored the day's James Comey story, a subject of interest to Trump and his supporters. Presumably that means Smith does not deem it an important story. But here's where he can demonstrate his "deliver the facts" mantra and explain what's going on with that story, why the White House is interested in it and why it is or isn't significant.
The state of COVID-19 is unfortunately going to remain an important topic. Gottlieb, CNBC's prime-time go-to guy on this subject all spring and summer, explained that while COVID cases are rising in much of the country, death rates are lower because hospital treatments have improved, and "we're a lot better at it."
One highlight was the presence, at the 47th minute, of CNBC's stunning and charming Jane Wells reporting from Vegas, "You can't keep Sin City down."
Wells closed with a wedding officiated by Darth Vader. "The strong is Force- the Force is strong with that couple," Wells cracked. "And I haven't even been drinking yet. That'll come later."
Discussing the challenges of indoor dining in New York City, Contessa Brewer featured a restaurant that hangs bras from the ceiling.
Given that the show is titled "The News," the guess is that we likely won't be seeing Jim Cramer or Jamie Dimon on this show opining about the financial markets. From this first look, it appears there's nothing interactive about the show, for example, Smith won't be reading real-time tweets on the air. But perhaps surprises are in store: "Soon we'll be with you from our new state-of-the-art studio," Smith told viewers at the end of Wednesday's program.
Shepard Smith was a fairly big get for CNBC, which in recent years has concluded that its reality TV reruns are its best option for 7 p.m. Eastern. Smith abruptly ended his long tenure at Fox News a year ago and "left more questions than answers" about his exit, according to the Associated Press. A talented and popular host, Smith for better or worse had nevertheless slipped down the food chain at Fox and apparently had grown tired of the channel's evening partisanship. News reading won't get it done here. The guess is that Hoffman was seeking to bolster CNBC's D.C. news chops during election season as the reality reruns slowly feel more and more stale.
TV hosts who enjoy clucking at Trump — which is basically all of them — and their audiences would be better served by analyzing not what he's saying but how he's saying it.
This page won't take sides. The facts should be checked. They are, every minute, on cable TV and in prominent newspapers. But somebody obviously votes for him. He won 36 states in the 2016 Republican primary. He won 30 states against Hillary Clinton. He appears to have a decent chance of being reelected; at least, it's not like Ford in 76, Carter in 80 or Bush in 92, who faced 20- or 30-point summer deficits.
Giving about half of his program to debate recap, Smith should note the chart he unveiled at the very end — that 98% of people said the presidential debate didn't change their vote.
That sounds like a fact, and all the context anyone needs.
2 stars
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