Steve Smith

Mr. Smith was named editor in July 2002 of The Spokesman-Review, a privately held newspaper in Spokane, WA, with a daily circulation of 100,000 and a Sunday circulation of 125,000. As editor, he supervises all news and editorial operations and a staff of 134 that produces three daily editions.  Prior to joining The Spokesman-Review, he was editor for two years of the Statesman Journal, a Gannett newspaper in Salem, OR.

Previously, Mr. Smith was editor and vice president of The Gazette, a Freedom Communications, Inc. newspaper in Colorado Springs, Co. He was named editor in October 1995 and vice president in 1997.

Before joining The Gazette, Mr. Smith served two years as assistant to the vice presidents/news for Knight-Ridder, Inc. in Miami.  He worked with Knight-Ridder’s 30 newspapers, developing training programs, producing critiques, assisting with strategic planning. He specialized in issues involving newsroom change and civic journalism.

Previously, he was managing editor at The Wichita Eagle and held a variety of positions at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He also worked at the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis and the Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon.

Mr. Smith was chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors “Change” committee in 1997-98 and was a member of ASNE’s Credibility Think Tank. He is active in the Society of Professional Journalists. He has been a frequent lecturer on civic journalism and newsroom change for the Pew Center on Civic Journalism, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the American Press Institute and has lectured on newsroom training issues for the Freedom Forum. He served on the advisory board for the Pew Center on the States and is a member of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Mass Communications Advancement Council.

He is a graduate of the Northwestern University Newspaper Management Center Advanced Executive Program. 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. He attended API’s Executive Editors and Managing Editors seminar in 1990.