(AP) — Former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith is set to receive a journalism award from his alma mater, the University of Mississippi.
The university’s School of Journalism and New Media announced in a news release that Smith is the latest to be honored with its Silver Em award. Smith is to receive the award during a ceremony April 1 in Oxford.
Smith, who grew up in Holly Springs, spent more than 20 years anchoring FOX News before leaving the network last year.
“Shepard Smith embodies what a journalist should be — for decades, he has reported the news without fear or favor,” said Debora Wenger, assistant dean for innovation and external partnerships and professor of journalism. “Because he got his start in journalism here at the University of Mississippi, we feel extraordinarily proud of all he has accomplished.”
Smith, speaking to University of Mississippi students last year, said his teachers emphasized journalism’s commitment to the public.
“You have a responsibility to people who rely on you to find out what in the world is going on,” he said in October, according to the university’s release. “And even if it’s just the car wreck, or the city council meeting, or the game you are writing about, you have responsibility to do as well as you can and tell the story as effectively as possible.”