“I’m eager to get back to reporting and writing, though I have loved editing,” Smith told me in a phone interview. ADBut Smith said that one of the reasons he feels comfortable leaving now is that the company and the newsroom are stable. ADThe media columnist job at the Times was most famously occupied by David Carr, who earned many admirers for his swashbuckling, candid approach to a fast-changing arena. ADAD“When Ben arrived in 2012, there was no news organization here,” Matt Mittenthal, BuzzFeed communications director, told me in an email. Smith and I have been friendly for several years, and I want to welcome him as a fellow media columnist.

Source: Washington Post January 28, 2020 20:50 UTC