Journalist, historian, academic–Dr. Michael Ray Smith, professor of Mass Communication at Campbell University, recently presented research on 19th century Harnett County journalist John McLean Harrington at the Joint meeting of the American Journalism Historians Association in New York. Smith made the presentation, “The Strident Partisan Press Voice of Innovator Journalist John McLean Harrington,” on March 15 at the Roosevelt Hotel.Harnett County resident John McLean Harrington published 277 issues of handwritten newspapers from January 1858 to April 1869 during the build-up and conduct of the Civil War. Harrington, who was postmaster, was “stridently pro-Democrat,” Smith said, “but featured lighter fare in his newspapers such as jokes and marriage announcements.”Harrington’s newspapers, The “Nation,” with a circulation of 30, and the “Young American,” a literary journal, also handwritten, included paid advertisements and local, state and national news with some references to the growing uneasiness over the future of slavery.”Harrington’s work reveals a reporter-publisher who embodied the concept of a personal journalist, committed to a partisan cause and a will to promote it without benefit of a press,” said Smith.In all, Harrington, who died in 1887, edited six handwritten publications in his career. The year he died, the first printed newspaper began in Harnett County. Smith has transcribed dozens of Harrington’s newspapers for his research.A former journalist, Smith spent a decade working as a reporter and editor of newspapers including Gannett Co., owner of USA Today, Lancaster newspapers, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and others.Since coming to Campbell University in 2003, he continues to write while helping others to win a byline. In addition, since 2003, he has been quoted 14 times in newspapers around the nation including The New York Times. On Sept. 6, 2007, the Star-Tribune in Texas quoted him on text-messaging and language. His quotes also have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, The Boston Globe and other periodicals.The author of several books on communication, Smith’s fourth book, “FeatureWriting.Com,” is a step-by-step approach to snagging and completing a story. Smith is the recipient of the Archie K. Davis Fellowship from the North Caroliniana Society.
Smith presents at American Journalism Historian Association