He was a senior editor at Atlantic Media and held senior-level editing positions at Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report.
He is the son of Nora (O'Leary), a fashion editor of Family Circle, and John J. Smith, a partner at an investment bank.
[4] Smith began his newsmagazine career as a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Albany Times Union.
He was an editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Boston Globe, where he won the Ernie Pyle Award in 1977 for human interest storytelling.
[9][10] He left to work at National Journal in 1996, and was named editor of U.S. News & World Report in 1998, where he remained until 2001.
[13][12] In this position, Smith oversaw The Examiner's transition from daily print tabloid to a weekly magazine focused on national politics and policy.