Veteran television and print correspondent Terence Smith joined The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in August 1998 to organize and lead the media unit as its senior producer and correspondent. His work has quickly drawn praise: Smith won the 2000 Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism, as well as both the 2000 and 1999 Arthur C. Rowse Award for Media Criticism, given by the National Press Club. His work also earned Emmy nominations in 2001 and 2000.

The media unit offers timely reporting on how the media perform, giving special emphasis to accountability and responsible decision-making. It covers issues such as ethics, tabloidization, technological advances and the increasing pressures of competition. This special unit, one of the few of its kind in television, is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

During his thirteen year career at CBS prior to The NewsHour, Smith held the positions of senior correspondent for CBS News' Sunday Morning, CBS Evening News and other CBS News broadcasts; Washington correspondent for the CBS Evening News, 48 Hours and CBS Morning News; and network White House correspondent.

Before joining CBS News in 1985, Smith spent two decades with The New York Times as a reporter, editor, foreign correspondent and bureau chief. He was editor of The Times' "Washington Talk" page, which he helped conceive and develop. Smith won The Times' Publisher's Award twenty-two times.

Smith also has earned two Emmy Awards, a George Foster Peabody Award and the Exceptional Merit Media Award given by the National Women's Political Caucus and Radcliffe College. He has received two Pulitzer Prize nominations.