Sam Smith (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Sam Smith is an American
journalist
and political activist who was an early pioneer in alternative media
. He was also involved in the establishment of the Green Party of the United States. Several times a week, Smith publishes an email
news digest, Undernews.
. After three years service as an officer, he returned to Washington and started an alternative monthly, The Idler. At the time there were only a handful of such journals being published.
In 1965, Smith, then working again in radio, was offered a job as assistant to James Reston
, Washington correspondent of The New York Times
and later a position at the Washington Post, but he turned them down, preferring to pursue alternative journalism. The following year, he took part in a day-long SNCC
boycott of Washington DC transit buses, giving rides to boycotters with his car. After his article on the action appeared, Smith was visited by the local chair of SNCC who was seeking help with public relations
. Thus began a long relationship with Marion Barry
, who later became mayor
of the city.
That same year, 1966, Smith launched a community newspaper called the Capitol East Gazette to serve a largely poor, black neighborhood of Washington DC. Aided by a $2,000 grant from a local Lutheran church, the Gazette went on to cover such issues as plans to build a huge network of freeways in the city, the war on poverty, public education, neighborhood battles, and urban planning. Smith also became a vociferous advocate of statehood for the District of Columbia. In 1969, the paper was renamed the DC Gazette and became a citywide alternative newspaper. In subsequent years, contributors would include James Ridgeway
, Jim Hightower
, Eugene McCarthy
, and Paul Krassner
and the publication became an early and articulate voice opposing the Vietnam War
.
In 1974, Indiana University
Press published Smith's first book, Captive Capital: Colonial Life in Modern Washington. In 1980, he became a guest commentator on the local NPR
radio station and Washington correspondent for the Illustrated London News
.
In 1984, the Gazette was renamed the Progressive Review and evolved into a bimonthly format. Smith's articles on the savings and loan scandal
, the problems of urban America, the first Gulf War
, the Bush family
, and scandals surrounding the Clintons were widely cited. In 1993, Indiana University press published Smith's book on Bill Clinton
's first year. Because of his opposition to Clinton and his work at reforming the liberal mainstay, Americans for Democratic Action
, he was purged as a vice president
of the organization. He then turned his energies to helping create a national Green Party and his home was an occasional gathering spot for Green organizers up until the founding of the party on November 17, 1996. In subsequent years, Smith found he was banned from the local NPR station as well as listed on de facto blacklists at C-SPAN
and the Washington Post for what he believes was too aggressively pursuing the Clinton scandals.
In 1994, Smith started sending out email updates. The following year, he launched a website, http://prorev.com, which subsequently grew to be one of the most popular websites for progressive politics on the Net.
1997, Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual was published. In 2001, his fourth book, Why Bother? Getting a Life in Locked Down Land appeared. In 2003, Smith wrote a 2000-word history of the Iraq war for Harper's Magazine
lifted entirely from verbatim statements by Bush administration officials.
In 2004, Smith stopped publishing the Progressive Review in hard copy edition, continuing Undernews in email format with regular updates to his website. In its current form, Undernews consists of an entertaining and idiosyncratic selection of news excerpts from a wide variety of sources together with pithy commentaries by Smith himself.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and political activist who was an early pioneer in alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
. He was also involved in the establishment of the Green Party of the United States. Several times a week, Smith publishes an email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
news digest, Undernews.
Biography
Smith was born in Washington DC into an Episcopalian/Quaker family. He grew up in Philadelphia where he was educated in Quaker schools. Smith attended Harvard University, where he became news director of college radio station and was a drummer on the college dance circuit. He graduated in 1959 and went to work in radio news in Washington. In 1961, Smith joined the United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
. After three years service as an officer, he returned to Washington and started an alternative monthly, The Idler. At the time there were only a handful of such journals being published.
In 1965, Smith, then working again in radio, was offered a job as assistant to James Reston
James Reston
James Barrett Reston , nicknamed "Scotty," was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid 1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with the New York Times.-Life:...
, Washington correspondent of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and later a position at the Washington Post, but he turned them down, preferring to pursue alternative journalism. The following year, he took part in a day-long SNCC
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
boycott of Washington DC transit buses, giving rides to boycotters with his car. After his article on the action appeared, Smith was visited by the local chair of SNCC who was seeking help with public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
. Thus began a long relationship with Marion Barry
Marion Barry
Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who is currently serving as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia, representing DC's Ward 8. Barry served as the second elected mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991, and again as the fourth mayor from 1995...
, who later became mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of the city.
That same year, 1966, Smith launched a community newspaper called the Capitol East Gazette to serve a largely poor, black neighborhood of Washington DC. Aided by a $2,000 grant from a local Lutheran church, the Gazette went on to cover such issues as plans to build a huge network of freeways in the city, the war on poverty, public education, neighborhood battles, and urban planning. Smith also became a vociferous advocate of statehood for the District of Columbia. In 1969, the paper was renamed the DC Gazette and became a citywide alternative newspaper. In subsequent years, contributors would include James Ridgeway
James Ridgeway
James Ridgeway is a prominent American investigative journalist.-Career history:Ridgeway began his career as a contributor to The New Republic, Ramparts, and The Wall Street Journal....
, Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
James Allen "Jim" Hightower is an American syndicated columnist, activist and author.-Life and career:Born in Denison, Texas, Hightower came from a working class background. He worked his way through college as assistant general manager of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and later landed a spot as...
, Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
, and Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
and the publication became an early and articulate voice opposing the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
In 1974, Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
Press published Smith's first book, Captive Capital: Colonial Life in Modern Washington. In 1980, he became a guest commentator on the local NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
radio station and Washington correspondent for the Illustrated London News
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:...
.
In 1984, the Gazette was renamed the Progressive Review and evolved into a bimonthly format. Smith's articles on the savings and loan scandal
Savings and Loan crisis
The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was the failure of about 747 out of the 3,234 savings and loan associations in the United States...
, the problems of urban America, the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the Bush family
Bush family
The Bush family is a prominent American family. Along with many members who have been successful bankers and businessmen, across three generations the family includes two U.S. Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents...
, and scandals surrounding the Clintons were widely cited. In 1993, Indiana University press published Smith's book on Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's first year. Because of his opposition to Clinton and his work at reforming the liberal mainstay, Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action is an American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA works for social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research and supporting progressive candidates.-History:...
, he was purged as a vice president
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of the organization. He then turned his energies to helping create a national Green Party and his home was an occasional gathering spot for Green organizers up until the founding of the party on November 17, 1996. In subsequent years, Smith found he was banned from the local NPR station as well as listed on de facto blacklists at C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
and the Washington Post for what he believes was too aggressively pursuing the Clinton scandals.
In 1994, Smith started sending out email updates. The following year, he launched a website, http://prorev.com, which subsequently grew to be one of the most popular websites for progressive politics on the Net.
1997, Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual was published. In 2001, his fourth book, Why Bother? Getting a Life in Locked Down Land appeared. In 2003, Smith wrote a 2000-word history of the Iraq war for Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
lifted entirely from verbatim statements by Bush administration officials.
In 2004, Smith stopped publishing the Progressive Review in hard copy edition, continuing Undernews in email format with regular updates to his website. In its current form, Undernews consists of an entertaining and idiosyncratic selection of news excerpts from a wide variety of sources together with pithy commentaries by Smith himself.