June 13, 2014
For Immediate Release
By Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Bill Goodman, host and managing editor of the Emmy Award-winning public affairs series “Kentucky Tonight” on Kentucky Educational Television (KET), is joining the mass communication department at Campbellsville University as an adjunct faculty member.
His class will be called “Selected Topics: Politics and Journalism in the Age of Social Media,” and it will look at “how journalism must change in order to better serve the times and the public,” Goodman said.
Listed as MAC 380, it will be taught on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in room 121 of the School of Education building.
“This is a fascinating and challenging time for journalism,” Goodman said.
“On the one hand, we must continue to assess the performance and standards of the profession. Secondly, students and working journalists need to be aware of the new tools available to reporters and how they are changing the way we cover the news.”
Goodman said class members will study the basic foundations of reporting while applying the new tools for interpretation, insight and illumination in today's media environment.
Goodman, who also hosts “Education Matters,” KET's election night coverage, said the November general election will provide the class with a “living laboratory of candidates, campaign tactics and races to study.”
He said he wanted the students to show voters all over Kentucky that issues matter, not just campaign commercials.
Goodman was recently the speaker at Campbellsville University's Media Appreciation Luncheon and the Excellence in Teaching Awards Ceremony.
“I'm anxious to get started at Campbellsville University. I found President [Michael V.] Carter, the staff, professors and students to be extremely friendly and eager to welcome me to campus. I look forward to being at the university this fall.”
Goodman will be an asset to our program, said Stan McKinney, lead professor for mass communication.
“His class will take an important look at the coverage of politics in the age of social media,” McKinney said.
“This fall's senate race will be especially interesting, and Goodman's class will focus on media coverage of that election. An informed electorate is essential to democracy. This class will help students understand the crucial role that journalism plays in politics and how it is changing.”
On “One to One with Bill Goodman,” Goodman has interviewed guests including Pulitzer Prize winner George Will; Nikky Finney, poet, professor and recipient of the National Book Award for Poetry; actor Richard Dreyfuss; current and former Kentucky political leaders; and many others.
In April 2013, he was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.
Writer of the KET blog “Bill's Eye,” Goodman also holds a master of fine arts in creative nonfiction from Spalding University. His collection of personal essays, titled “One Kentucky Life,” will be published in the spring 2014.
A native of Glasgow, Ky., Goodman graduated from Western Kentucky University. Prior to coming to KET, he worked at TV stations in Nashville and Houston. He lives in Lexington.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.