Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame to Induct Nine New Members

On Friday, April 28, nine new members will be inducted in the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame at a luncheon ceremony sponsored by the University of Kentucky’s School of Journalism and Media and the UK School of Journalism Alumni Association.

The newest honorees will join more than 200 other journalists and news media executives who have inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame since its 1981 inception. Members are chosen by a committee representing the state’s news media, Hall of Fame members, the UK Journalism Alumni Association and the School of Journalism and Media. Nominees must either be Kentucky natives or journalists who have spent the bulk of their careers in the state.

The KBA extends a congratulations to the newest members of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.

conn-matthews2conn-matthews1Lewis Conn and William Matthews, whose 1968 creation of the Newspapers, Inc. changed the way Kentucky community newspapers were owned and published. ( Conn is deceased and will be inducted posthumously.)
ron daleyRon Daley of Hazard, former editor and publisher of the groundbreaking Troublesome Creek Times in Hindman, now strategic partner lead for the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative. mike-farrellDr. Mike Farrell, professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky, director of its Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, and former managing editor of the Kentucky Pos
mary-fergusonMary D. Ferguson, who became the first female reporter for Hopkinsville’s Kentucky New Era in 1962, then a columnist and the Pennyrile area’s unoffical historian until her death in 2016. (posthumous induction). bettye-mastinBettye Lee Mastin, a retired Lexington Herald Leader reporter and author whose writing about historic architecture helped lead to the preservation of many historic structures in the Bluegrass.
tom-butlerTom Butler, retired Vice President of news for WPSD-TV in Paducah, a mentor to several outstanding broadcast journalists and an advocate of strong journalism during his 35 years there. Sadly, Tom Butler passed away on Friday, March 31, 2017. (posthumous
induction)

bill-francisBill Francis
, retired reporter and anchor for WDRB-TV, who covered Louisville for 42 years and was the first full-time business reporter for a Kentucky television stations.
joe-palmerJoe Palmer, a Lexington native and UK graduate whose Thoroughbred racing coverage for the New York Herald Tribune in the 1940s and ’50s was hailed by many contemporaries as the best. He also worked as associate editor of The Blood Horse magazine in Lexington. ( posthumous induction)