Hello,
Welcome to my new blog. Journalism Still Matters replaces my Still A Newspaperman blog, begun in July 2008.
That blog was hacked several months ago, its latest posts and archives obliterated and not recoverable. Regardless, it was time to retire Still A Newspaperman. The title suggested I remain rooted in the past, nostalgic for a newspapering era long vanished. Well, of course I am nostalgic for those better times. But nostalgia doesn't change the current reality.
The newspaper world to which I devoted 35 years of my professional life is dead and gone and no amount of nostalgia will bring it back.
But newspaper journalism, if not prospering, survives. The industry may have lost as many as 15,000 practitioners in the last three years. But those who remain labor heroically -- in the face of daunting productivity demands, wage reductions and furloughs -- to serve their communities.
At the same time, old dogs and new are reinventing the practice of journalism, launching print and digital initiatives, experimenting with innovative non-profit and for-profit business models, crating collaborative institutes and think tanks.
Even in the face of recent industry travails bordering on collapse, I am an optimist. Good journalism still matters -- to the journalists who produce it and the communities they serve.
In this blog, I will highlight some of that journalism from time to time. I'll also write about media ethics in our fast-evolving profession, about transparency, accountability and values.
Most of those who will read this blog will know me as the former editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA. Since leaving the newspaper, I have been consulting, teaching and traveling, trying to understand better the forces altering the journalistic landscape.
Recently, I accepted an appointment as visiting assistant professor of journalism at the University of Idaho where I have been teaching mass media ethics since January. Next academic year, I'll also teach a new course in media management and leadership.
Some of my work at Idaho will find its way into this blog.
Thanks for checking in.
Steve Smith
About Steven A. Smith
- Steven A. Smith
- Spokane, Washington
- Smith is visiting assistant professor of journalism at the University of Idaho where he teaches mass media ethics, media management and media writing. He is a veteran news professional who last served as editor of The Spokesman-Review, the daily newspaper in Spokane, WA. In a 38-year professional career, he was editor of papers in Salem, OR, and Colorado Springs, CO, and worked two years as assistant to the vice presidents/news at Knight-Ridder Inc. in Miami, FL. Previously, he held a variety of positions at newspapers in Minnesota, Kansas and Oregon. Smith has been a frequent lecturer and consultant on civic journalism and newsroom change. He holds an MA in communication from The Ohio State University where he was a Kiplinger fellow and a BS in journalism from the University of Oregon.
