Indianapolis paper's tech columnist becomes metro columnist

Erika Smith, the tech columnist and reporter for the Indianapolis Star, is the paper’s new metro columnist.

In her debut column, Smith writes, “In the 5 1/2 years since I moved here from my native Northeast Ohio, I’ve developed an attachment to Indianapolis that I never could have predicted.

“For The Star, I’ve been a tech columnist, business reporter, metro reporter and wannabe videographer.

“But none of those roles, I think, will be as challenging — or as rewarding — as being a metro columnist. And that’s simply because I so strongly want Indianapolis to become the best city that it can be.

“As a columnist, my goal will be to pose questions, not impose answers. I will tell the story of our community through the stories of the people who live here.”

Read more here. Smith graduated from Ohio University in 2000. She previously worked as a copy editor and a business reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal before joining the star in August 2005.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.