She specialized in international relations topics, developing an esteemed reputation, which led to Slavko Ćuruvija offering her a job as foreign editor at his upstart bi-weekly magazine "Evropljanin" in 1998. Following the tragic end to Ćuruvija's life, "Evropljanin" ceased publication forcing Smajlović and other journalist to look for work. She got a job at "NIN" initially as the Hague Tribunal commentator and later as weekly columnist. In October 2005 Smajlović got named the editor-in-chief of "Politika" daily, replacing Milan Mišić. She became the first woman in the newspaper's century-long history to hold that job. On 21 January 2006, she wrote an opinion piece for the "Los Angeles Times" criticizing both the NATO and the Serbian government for failing to arrest Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, respectively.