Spotlight Delaware is excited to announce that Michael “Mike” Smith has joined the newsroom as its newest reporter.
As a Sussex County resident, Smith will primarily cover land use policy and environmental impact in the state of Delaware. In conjunction, reporter Nick Stonesifer will move from covering land use to starting Spotlight Delaware’s coverage of health care policy in Delaware.
“We’re excited to add a reporter like Mike, who has deep knowledge of how public policy is formed, to a strong newsroom working on in-depth reporting for Delaware,” said Jacob Owens, editor-in-chief of Spotlight Delaware. “Mike understands the issues that matter most in Delaware, especially to our downstate residents, so I’m excited to bring his experience to our coverage of land use amid a historic growth in the First State.”
For the past three years, Smith has covered the rapidly growing communities in southern Delaware as a reporter for the Coastal Point newspaper. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. He also attended Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism for political reporting.
Smith has won five awards from the Maryland, Delaware and D.C. Press Association, including two for environmental reports on Delaware’s climate change plans and another on lead in the drinking water at local schools.
He also recently served a three-year term on the Board of Governors for the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and has served on the Philadelphia conference planning committee for the Society for Environmental Journalists.
Prior to restarting his journalism career, Smith had a successful career in public relations for more than three decades, working with a wide array of global companies, presidential campaigns and national organizations.
“Land use and our coastal environmental impact is one of the issues of our times,” Smith said. “I am excited to bring value to Spotlight Delaware. I also believe its funding model works best for news and information, in a more egalitarian way, to fund in-depth investigative reporting.”
Smith lives in Ocean View with his wife, Cheryl, who worked for the Roanoke Times newspaper early in her career.
“Cheryl is the best copy editor I have ever met so I have a built-in editor here,” he said.
Reach Smith at msmith@spotlightdelaware.org or 703-623-3834.
To learn more about Spotlight Delaware and become a Founding Member, visit spotlightdelaware.org/support.