Former LAT national editor joins health news website

Roger Smith, the former national editor of the Los Angeles Times and also for many years the editor of the Column One features on the Times' front page, has a new gig. He will be the managing editor of the California HealthCare Foundation’s Center for Health Reporting at USC Annenberg, the center announced. The open position had drawn a lot of interest from journalists in LA and I assume from far beyond as well. At the Times Smith helped lead the paper's coverage of the Affordable Care Act.

From an announcement by the center's editor-in-chief, Richard Kipling:

Smith has an enviable background in news, particularly in-depth analysis, investigative journalism and narrative storytelling – all areas the Center emphasizes.

Smith has directed presidential campaign coverage and shaped the work of national correspondents. He has overseen reporters covering religion, science and medicine.

For many years, Smith was editor of the Times’ signature front-page feature, “Column One,” and is a master at story conception and narrative structure.

He has also supervised a number of investigative projects, including two Pulitzer Prize award winners.

Smith, who spent more than three decades at the Times, holds a degree from USC in journalism.

The CHCF Center for Health Reporting (www.centerforhealthreporting.org) is an independent news organization that partners with news media to report about California health care issues. Based at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, it is funded by the non-profit California HealthCare Foundation.

The center's director is former LAT editor Michael Parks and the staff includes journalists formerly at the Times and other mainstream media outlets.