Shepard Smith of Fox News made an abrupt announcement yesterday regarding his departure. He addressed viewers in his final broadcast:

I have met leaders, heroes, and victims of all strides. I’ve witnessed and reported on the events that shaped our reality. Together with my colleagues we have written a first draft of history and endeavored to deliver it to you while speaking truth to power without fear or favor it in context and with perspective. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity.”-Shepard Smith

Is there a bigger story here? Fellow journalists and Smith fans seem to think so:

News that Shepard Smith is leaving Fox News is a bombshell in the world of television journalism. Smith has been a pro and a straight shooter as a reporter and anchor. His departure suggests a bigger story, but I wish him well in his future pursuits.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) October 11, 2019

Shepard let Trump Syndrome take him down, he and he alone is the blame for the low ratings, his conduct was very unethical there were times he was so enraged he was practically yelling there are others at Fox who are not big Trump fans but handle it better

— TheGriff (@griffm601) October 11, 2019

Say what you will about Shep Smith’s departure from Fox News. I personally, was not a fan of Smith from the time he stood on an overpass during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and blamed Bush. It was not the local government’s fault that their people were dying in the streets and their infrastructure was faulty. Where was former Mayor Ray Nagin in all of this?v Where is any acknowledgement of the gross negligence by other local and state officials that contributed to this tragedy? We see the same journalists playing the same verbal gymnastics today. It’s Donald Trump’s fault that we have a ton of heroin needles in Seattle-never mind an inept mayor and city council. Republicans in the White House are to blame for typhus breaking out on Skid Row or that San Francisco is covered in poop. They’re not 100% wrong here. But they fail miserably to cover both sides because of popular opinion. Most modern-day journalists fall on ONE political side of the spectrum and they cater to the majority.

It’s been an honor and my pleasure. Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalist will thrive. I’m Shepard Smith.”-Shepard Smith

You see, Shepard Smith and his fellow journalists have been responsible for creating this “polarized nation” of which he speaks. Flip the channels and see for yourself. Read any news article in any newspaper that is still surviving. Smith wants “facts” to “win the day” but people’s opinions, in the age of “living our own truth” have now become “facts”. A “journalist” is not a “journalist” by the true definition of vocation anymore in this “polarized” nation. A journalist does not report just the facts anymore. A journalist is part of the big machine that starts in high schools and continues it’s molding and shaping of minds in the university system. These young, starry-starry-eyed kids leave their jobs as editors at their high-school newspapers and go on to these colleges because they want to be the next great journalists. They fall in line at their universities with popular political opinions and ideologies and have a slanted view on life. All other political opinions and views become unacceptable. They are so young and eager to live out their dreams, they will stretch the truth, fabricate the truth or craft the truth to conveniently skew popular opinion. There is no such thing as objectivity anymore. Any “objectivity” will earn said eager journalist a bad grade from his or her professor or, at the very least, if spoken out in class, the stink-eye from his or her classmates. How do I know this?

I was one of them.

In order for “facts to win the day”, a journalist must be able to report from both sides of the story without implicit bias. Facts do not win the day when a reporter is unwilling or unable to discuss, from both political sides, without favor to one or the other, why people are being left for dead in the streets. Sadly, being a “journalist” these days requires much boot-licking and jockeying for political position. Being a well-known, well-respected “journalist” means cocktail parties with the right Democrats. It means sweeping some things under the proverbial carpet and falling in line and being a good, little liberal Democrat yourself. Those are the journalists who thrive, Shepard Smith. Sadly, the truth to them does not always matter. So, no. Facts do not always win the day. It may be a while before they do.