Steven A Smith

Steven A. Smith is clinical associate professor emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Media at the University of Idaho having retired from full-time teaching at the end of May 2020. He writes a weekly opinion column. Smith is former editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. As editor, Smith supervised all news and editorial operations on all platforms until his resignation in October 2008. Prior to joining The Spokesman-Review, Smith was editor for two years at the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon, and was for five years editor and vice president of The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a graduate of the Northwestern University Newspaper Management Center Advanced Executive Program and a mid-career development program at Duke University. He holds an M.A. in communication from The Ohio State University where he was a Kiplinger Fellow, and a B.S. in journalism from the University of Oregon.

The Greatest Newspaperman

The best would be Deborah Howell, my editor at the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minnesota. And when, during this Women’s History Month, I think of the contributions of great women, the first name that comes to mind for me is that of Howell.

On Buying a Car

When was the last time you bought a car? If it has been a few years, your next purchase will offer some surprises, mostly positive.

Why We Need To Start Paying Attention To The Ukrainian Crisis

As Russia prepares to mount the largest invasion Europe has seen since World War II, Americans must face the reality that, at best, we could see a return to dangerous Cold War conditions.

When Values and Fanship Clash

Separation is much more difficult when the artist – or the athlete – is still alive and active. Which raises this question: At what point in a clash between personal values and a favorite artist’s values do you abandon the artist altogether?

Denying History Through Book Bans

“Maus” is an incredible, one-of-a-kind graphic novel in which Jews are depicted as mice, Nazis as cats, Poles as pigs, and so on. It is a memoir that defies simple description.

The Afterlife: This Is It.

We are a blink of an eye in the endless passage of time. We come, we go and even the greatest of us will become the faintest of memories.

A Day in the ER

I was walking into the Sacred Heart Hospital ER. And it was a madhouse.

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