'The chance to use your voice'

 

"In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right." – Ellen Goodman

 

Born in Massachusetts on this date in 1941, Goodman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of 8 books, and a frequent speaker and commentator on society and social issues.

                                                                                                                              

After earning a degree in history at Radcliffe, she gravitated to writing after taking a “temporary” job as a researcher at Newsweek magazine. After working as a reporter at the Detroit Free Press and the Boston Globe, she started writing on social issues and soon was presenting her thoughts in a column read by millions around the world.

 

She was the first woman to be published on a major newspaper's Op-Ed Page and the first to have a regular column, joining the Washington Post Writers Group in 1976 where her groundbreaking writings have inspired action for decades.

 

Honored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists with the “Ernie Pyle Award for Lifetime Achievement,” she also is the recipient of the American Society of News Editors’ Distinguished Writing Award, the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award, and the National Women’s Political Caucus President's Award.  

 

“I think that having a job in journalism, despite all of the changes, is still a fantastic way to be – to make a living observing your society and having a chance to use your voice.”