Great Tim Cuprisin interview in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel with top-rated Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on the once and future historical perspective of the Middle East:
...For more than two weeks, Fox News Channel's Shepard Smith has been anchoring his 6 p.m. "Fox Report" from the war zone, and popping up throughout the day, more of a combat reporter than an anchor...
As for this ongoing story, Smith describes himself as "crouched on the page of a history book 20 years before it's written."
...The ratings show the effectiveness of having Smith on the scene. Nielsen Media Research numbers, supplied by Fox, show his "Fox Report" averaging 1.6 million viewers, more than CNN, Headline News, MSNBC and CNBC combined between July 17 and 25.
Smith said he doesn't think of those ratings as such.
"But we do say to ourselves, 'To what degree is the public still interested in this?' We watch the numbers closely and say, 'All right, when we're very heavy on Israel, are they paying attention, and when we're giving historical context or background and trying to put this in a place on a wider landscape, are they listening?'
"And if they are, which the numbers suggest they are, then I think we're serving a bigger purpose. The better the American public can understand this conflict, those who wish to, the better for everyone involved..."
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