[1] He admired his grandfather, a novelist who ghostwrote for Mickey Mantle and Tommy John, and his grandmother, a Mark Twain scholar.

He then moved to Latvia to take a position at The Baltic Times and also began reporting for The Wall Street Journal Europe (until 2001).

[citation needed] Smith wrote for the news outlet Politico from 2008 to 2011, joining as that site expanded.

In 2010, he reported on a confidential Republican National Committee fundraising presentation counseling the party to capitalize on fear.

[22] In a Slate piece, Ashley Feinberg described Smith's report as an "overcorrection for resistance journalism" and opined that his approach showed "broad-mindedness, sacrificing accuracy for some vague, centrist perception of fairness.

"[23] Smith reported in late September 2021 that Ozy, a media company, had attempted to deceive investors and advertisers.

[24] In early January 2022, Smith announced he would be leaving The New York Times to start a global news venture aimed at the 200 million college-educated English readers.

[25][26] Justin Smith described a new company that would "reimagine quality global journalism" aimed at what he said was an "English-speaking, college-educated, professional class" that had "lost trust in all sources of news and information.

[29] In 2016, he and Buzzfeed co-founder Jonah Peretti were listed as two of the most powerful people in the media by The Hollywood Reporter.