Today was pretty surreal. I spoke to students for “High School Media Day” at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Folks from around the region. Mine was simply titled: “Music Journalism, Garret Woodward, Rolling Stone & Magazine Writer.” 

A large majority of U.S. adults (86%) say they at least sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, including 57% who say they do so often.….

Americans turn to radio and print publications for news far less frequently. In 2024, just 26% of U.S. adults say they often or sometimes get news in print, the lowest number our surveys have recorded. 
— Pew Research Center 

My office is cool and our building on Montgomery Street in Waynesville is quiet. Almost everyone who works at The Smoky Mountain News has gone home for a few minutes to tend to kids, dogs, wives and husbands as it’s one hour before the annual first Friday in June birthday bash celebrating another year of putting out this weekly print newspaper (and now a seven-day-per-week news website).  

In the 26 years we’ve been publishing this newspaper, I don’t think we’ve ever had the onslaught of letters to the editor as has been happening since November.

It was just about 12 years ago when I first rolled into Waynesville. After a solo 18-hour, 1,000-mile trek from my native Upstate New York to Western North Carolina, I found myself sitting in an office chair awaiting an in-person interview with Smoky Mountain News publisher/founder Scott McLeod. 

On Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m., the Western Carolina University chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will host a panel discussion on the spread of misinformation and the dangers of fake news.

It’s a lot quieter this week at The Smoky Mountain News. Not just because of the unusually warm weather this past weekend sparking folks to frolic and head for the hills.

When I first arrived in Western North Carolina just after New Year’s Day, 2014, I wasn’t planning to stay. 

The cookouts are over, the red, white and blue decorations are coming off the patios and tables and are being prepared for storage to await July 4, 2024.

To the Editor:

My oh my, but Janet Presson, R.N., M.Ed., seemed intent on ripping Cory Vaillancourt a new one in her letter to the editor in the May 10 edition of The Smoky Mountain News . Presson, R.N., M.Ed., expressed doubts about Mr. Vaillancourt’s journalistic capabilities.