Russ Smith (publisher)

Russ Smith (born 1955 in Huntington, New York) is a newspaper publisher and columnist best known for founding the Baltimore City Paper, Washington City Paper and New York Press.

After selling the Baltimore and Washington City Papers for $4 million, Smith founded New York Press in 1989. Like his previous papers, the press was an alternative weekly. It became a caustic rival with the well-established Village Voice.

In 2002 Avalon Equity Partners, publisher of a chain of gay alternative weeklies including the New York Blade and the Washington Blade, purchased the paper from Smith, although they continued to publish his 10,000+ word weekly column, MUGGER. From 2003 to 2006, Smith wrote a column called "Right Field" for the Baltimore City Paper.

A conservative Republican (although not socially; for example, he is an advocate of the legalization of prostitution, gambling, same-sex marriage, and currently illegal drugs [1] Smith is a contributor to the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, a position that he has held since 1999; he also writes for the paper's "Taste" section. Other publications Smith has written for include Baltimore's Press Box, The New York Sun, and Jewish World Review.

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