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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 18 January 2020
Fox's Bill Hemmer replaces,

but won't copy, Shepard Smith

By DAVID BAUDER Hemmer has anchored the much diplomacy to begin
AP Media Writer midmorning hours at Fox with?"
NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Hem- since 2009. The Cincinnati (Paul mentioned the Ira-
mer is not Shepard Smith, native, who's now enough nian nuclear deal signed
and no one should expect of a New Yorker to be af- during the Obama admin-
him to be. flicted with Knicks fandom, istration.)
The 55-year-old news an- joined Fox from CNN in But some of the examples
chor is a familiar face to 2005. He was pleased but Media Matters offered
Fox News Channel viewers, not necessarily surprised to date back nearly a de-
and will jar none of them get the promotion, which cade, with others illustrat-
FOX News Channel's Bill Hemmer, anchor of news program Bill Monday when he takes also comes with a greater ing the adversarial role a
Hemmer Reports, poses for a photo on the set of his new show,
Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, in New York. over the 3 p.m. ET news role in breaking news sto- journalist sometimes must
Associated Press hour that Smith vacated ries, and took only 24 hours take.
when he abruptly quit the to accept it. Madeline Peltz of Media
network late last year. When Hemmer was named Matters said that what
Smith cultivated a reputa- to Smith's time slot, the liber- Hemmer has said in his job
tion for bluntly confronting al watchdog organization is not as important as what
the Trump administration Media Matters for Ameri- has not been said, "the fact
and even fellow Fox per- ca issued a news release, that he has not stood up for
sonalities when he felt they saying he had a history of the truth."
misled people. That made pushing Republican talking "Shep Smith's exit speaks
him a target for criticism points. It said the promo- more loudly than Bill Hem-
from some Fox viewers — tion illustrated that Fox was mer's entrance," she said.
and often President Donald committed to pushing a Veteran news executive
Trump. pro-Trump line. Michael Clemente, who su-
As for Hemmer, he's rarely Asked for examples, Media pervised Hemmer at both
in the news himself and has Matters cited a Hemmer CNN and Fox, said he's al-
no interest in making opin- discussion last November ways known Hemmer as a
ion part of his job. about homeless villages in fair journalist.
"I will be playing golf in San Francisco. "It will blow "He really has a complete-
Florida before that ever your mind," he said. "They ly open mind to opinions
happens," Hemmer said. have working televisions in- on all sides and where the
"I don't walk in the door side." truth lies, and he has been
thinking about 100 ways When Hemmer interviewed doing it that way back to
to change government. I Sen. Rand Paul, who op- his time at CNN," Clem-
don't think that way. I don't posed the killing of Iranian ente said. "He comes from
believe I'm built that way. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, he the heartland, a big Ohio
I'm much more comfort- noted that the Kentucky family, and I think he has a
able in this news lane than Republican had called it real appreciation" for what
I would ever be as an opin- the "death of diplomacy." people are thinking away
ion anchor." Hemmer asked, "Was there from the coasts.q

MSNBC’s Maddow reaches record

audience with Parnas interview

NEW YORK (AP) — There's
no apparent impeach-
ment fatigue among view-
ers of MSNBC's Rachel
Maddow.
Her prime-time show, which
has been on for more than
11 years, had its largest
audience ever when 4.5
million people watched
Maddow's interview on
Wednesday with Lev Par-
nas, an associate of Rudy
Giuliani, President Donald
Trump's personal lawyer.
The Nielsen company said
Maddow topped Fox News In this Oct. 16, 2017 file photo, MSNBC television anchor Rachel
Channel's Sean Hannity, Maddow, host of "The Rachel Maddow Show," moderates a
who usually has the top- panel at a forum called "Perspectives on National Security,"
rated cable news show. He at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard
University, in Cambridge, Mass.
had 3.7 million viewers that Associated Press
night.
Parnas, who Maddow had on her show, spoke about edge about what Giuliani
frequently talked about his belief of Trump's knowl- was doing in the Ukraine.q