Fox News' Harris Faulkner is the only black woman in cable news with a daily show: 'It's a tremendous amount of responsibility'

• Fox News Channel anchor Harris Faulkner is the only African-American woman that hosts a daily news show on one of the three major cable news networks.
• She has made headlines for her comments both defending President Trump and criticizing him.
  
• We went behind the scenes of Faulkner's show "Outnumbered Overtime," which airs Monday through Friday on Fox News at 1:00 PM ET.
• Faulkner will join the network's special live coverage of the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, November 6th beginning at 6:00 PM ET.
  

Following is a transcript of the video.

Director: They're back in five, four, three...

Harris Faulkner: We'll go "Outnumbered Overtime" now. I'm Harris Faulkner. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo...

Narrator: Harris Faulkner is the host of "Outnumbered Overtime" on Fox News Channel.

Faulkner: Great to see you, Congressman. You know, the big question today...

Narrator: The show airs Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM Eastern. Faulkner is the only African-American woman that hosts a daily show for one of the three major cable news networks. On MSNBC and CNN, there are daily shows hosted by African-American men, with Craig Melvin and Don Lemon, respectively. But on those networks, African-American women only host broadcasts that air on the weekends.

Faulkner: When Fox committed to giving me an hour of television, I said, "Oh my gosh I'm gonna be like," and I looked for those faces. I'm curious when I look across the dial Monday through Friday, you know, where are the other female black anchors? It's a tremendous amount of responsibility.

Narrator: Faulkner joined the network in 2005. She became cohost of the midday show "Outnumbered" in 2014, and she got her own show three years later with "Outnumbered Overtime."

Faulkner: This is the first edition of "Outnumbered Overtime."

Narrator: The show's first episode aired the day after the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Faulkner: Of course, we're gonna cover this story moment by moment.

Jay Soroko: Harris does breaking news better than just about anybody in the business. She understands the stories, she knows how to help the audience understand what's really important and what we need to learn and where we need to go with the story.

Faulkner: How's it going? My day starts with the rose gold folder. We start out pretty early on an editorial call in the morning, and then we build this blueprint of the show, and now I'm ready to rock and roll.

Narrator: Faulkner's career didn't begin at Fox News.

Faulkner: I want to draw your attention to these big, four-foot deep - they would have been in the ground. This is cement.

Narrator: She worked her way up the local news food chain as a reporter and anchor.

Faulkner: Getting into network television was tougher than I thought it was gonna be.

Welcome back to "A Current Affair."

Narrator: Her first national job was hosting the syndicated news magazine show "A Current Affair," and she gained notoriety for her coverage of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

Sean Hannity: With details is Harris Faulkner, the reporter for "A Current Affair." Harris thanks for being with us.

Faulkner: That was my entree into Fox News Channel. I was on as a guest correspondent with Sean Hannity. The show got canceled, they wanted to keep me, and boom. Here I am at Fox News Channel doing some cut-ins at night, news updates, so that's, that was my entree here.

Congressman, thanks for sticking for the breaking news.

It's fabulously fun for me personally as a journalist because it's in real time, things are unfolding.

Narrator: While Faulkner's "Outnumbered Overtime" show is news-driven, the show she cohosts, "Outnumbered," encourages opinion. And in 2017, one of hers made headlines. After the deadly violence in Charlottesville, President Trump was criticized for his initial statement.

President Trump: We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides, on many sides.

Narrator: After intense blowback, Trump made another statement two days later.

Trump: Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.

Narrator: And this is how Faulkner responded.

Faulkner: I would say this about the president's critics as a whole. If nothing will quiet them, then they don't have America in their sights. They don't care about us. They don't care about Americans, and shame on them.

Narrator: Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple described Faulkner's comments as "pro-Trump shilling." In June of 2018, President Trump posted a tweet promoting Faulkner's book about growing up as a military brat. Faulkner responded with a tweet thanking the president that has been pinned to her profile ever since.

Graham Flanagan: I have a few examples of things that you've said or tweeted that might conflict with what many people's perception might be of what an African-American woman might say or tweet, and I just want to ask you a few examples of these.

Faulkner: By the way, those probably happen all the time because we're not all alike. I don't speak for all black people, and I hope that others don't speak for me. We're all different, we all come with our own points of view. To get a presidential tweet from the Commander-in-Chief about a military book that you've written is pretty awesome. And it wouldn't matter where that person's politics would be, it's the President of the United States. But that's not because I'm black that people give me negative feedback because the president tweeted about my book. They do it because they think that it's all about politics.

Narrator: Recently, Faulkner has called out the president. She had strong words for President Trump when he cast doubt on the death toll of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Faulkner: No, it cheapens us as a country. To have that be the conversation right now. I think one of the complicating factors when you talk about death and loss and all of that, is that it becomes about the numbers and not about the people. I don't understand politically why anybody would even wade into that, whether it's the president or anybody else. Let's let the science figure that out.

His hats say "Make America great again." And I look at how that doesn't fit the comments that you're saying about Puerto Rico. It makes it sound like we're not quite where we need to be, and it does cheapen us, and when the things don't match up, I call it.

Now, this is the part where we go upstairs.

Flanagan: Do you like working at Fox News?

Faulkner: I love it. If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. I hope that people look at me and think that I'm good at my job. I also encourage myself on a daily basis to do my job in such a way that it would encourage others to hire people who look like me. So I challenge other networks to see the value of a different perspective on things. I consider it a calling and a blessing that I get to do it. And I love doing it here.

Flanagan: I think you love this.

Faulkner: Oh my gosh, are you kidding? Am I boring you with details? I'm like a walking C-SPAN.

Flanagan: You're having fun.

Faulkner: I am! If you need a commercial break, you tell me.

Flanagan: No, I'm -

Faulkner: Okay!