The Fox News group of networks hosts programs in two categories:
- news
- opinion
News was once lead by Shepard Smith—who recently resigned from Fox for undisclosed reasons—and by people like Neil Cavuto at Fox Business.
Their reports always dealt in verifiable facts.
Opinion is lead by shows like Fox & Friends and personalities like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson. The opinion division at Fox has increasingly been populated with conspiracy theories and easily disproven misinformation or outright lies.
People have long wondered how the two divisions reconcile.
While Smith gave no reasons for his abrupt departure many speculated it was related to the opinion division not clearly identified as opinion, tainting the integrity and reputation of the news division journalists. Now another member of the Fox News team resigned and it seems that division is, in a word, divisive.
Veteran journalist Catherine Herridge called it quits with statements released by Fox News and CBS News—where she will begin working as an investigative correspondent.
The reason?
While Fox News released a statement where Herridge thanked founder Rupert Murdoch and the network...
"...for the opportunity to cover the most impactful stories of the last 23 years, most recently the Special Counsel report and impeachment inquiry."
"I have received great personal satisfaction from mentoring the next generation of reporters and producers and sharing my journalistic values — that facts matter and enterprise reporting will always win the day."
...CBS' statement was a different variation on the same tune.
CBS quoted Herridge stating:
"CBS News has always placed a premium on enterprise journalism and powerful investigations. I feel privileged to join a team where facts and storytelling will always matter."
The repeated reference to "facts matter" was not lost on people.
People who didn't know Fox pundits were part of a non-news opinion only division were confused.
Others simply had congratulations.
Herridge was with Fox News for 23 years.
Herridge's book The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaeda's American Recruits is available here.
