Fox News anchor Shepard Smith has signed onto a new multi-year contract with the network, the channel announced Thursday.
Terms of the deal and its length were not disclosed.
“Shepard Smith is an exemplary journalist whose skill in anchoring breaking news is unrivaled,” said 21st Century Fox and FOX News Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch. “His powerful storytelling on both television and digital platforms has elevated our entire news gathering process.”
Smith is one of the network’s longest tenured on-air personalities, having been with the channel since Roger Ailes hired him in 1996. Since then, Smith has participated in nearly every major story the network has covered.
“I am incredibly proud to be part of a group of journalists who helped build the FOX news division from scratch 22 years ago and extremely thankful for the opportunity to continue to lead our breaking news coverage for years to come,” said Smith in a channel press statement.
“Our team’s commitment to delivering facts to our loyal viewers in context and with perspective, without fear or favor, is unwavering.”
Though popular with colleagues, Smith has become an increasingly contrarian voice on Fox News in in the Trump era, speaking at length about gun violence after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. He also singled handedly debunked the Hillary Clinton Uranium One story, which his colleague, Sean Hannity, spent weeks hyping as Hillary Clinton’s latest scandal.