Western Kentucky University Journalism

Our journalism program is designed to prepare students for a changing media environment by focusing on content, ethics, and technology. All work featured on this site is original work produced by WKU students in our program’s journalism courses.

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Student Published Works

Our students within the WKU Journalism department spend time writing in their classes to gain hands on experience. We are proud to share their work with you!

News

WKU Journalism students cover a wide variety of news events. If you’re looking for the latest news from politics to community events to pop culture and more, take a peek at our students’ perspectives on current events.

Lifestyle

What’s trending? WKU students know what is popular both on and off campus. Whether it’s fashion, food, travel, or culture, our students have got you covered.

Entertainment

We take sports pretty seriously at WKU and we like to celebrate what’s going on in the community. Our journalism students will keep you up-to-date on the latest in entertainment.     

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First Amendment

The Fleishaker -Greene First Amendment Studies class reports on First Amendment issues and utilizing open records.               

 

 

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Spotlight

Honoring people and sharing their personal experiences is powerful. WKU Journalism students like to take the time to give individuals a voice and a chance to tell their stories.

About WKU Journalism

The WKU Journalism program is one of seven programs within the School of Media and Communication at Western Kentucky University located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Students enrolled in the program can earn a Bachelors of Arts in Journalism within four years.

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Submit My Article

If you are a current WKU Journalism student, we encourage you to submit your work here! Your writing might be featured on our website so we can recognize you as an outstanding student and journalist.

Recently Published Articles

The night it all went wrong

(Editor’s note: The following events and the victim’s background information are documented through Maddilyn Marcum’s account and supported by Marcum’s appeal of her 2016 case. Her appeal was denied.) By Olivia Estep On Dec. 31, 2013, Maddilyn Marcum attended a New...

Gender battles behind bars

(Editor's note: Photo provided by Unsplash) Transgenders in prison face a tide rising against them By Olivia Estep When the phone rings and a despondent voice repeats to me the monotonous “press one to accept this free call from . . .” I already know it’s Maddilyn...

Game, set: Will volleyball be a match?

Drew Hudson takes off for a spike. (Photo by Bo Gabbard) By Cole Scott As the clock wound down in the fourth quarter, the boys in black and grey, the South Warren High School basketball team, stood moments from their 14th district tournament run ending on their home...

Tackling a men’s game

The Conquer Chargers participated in an all-girls flag football hosted by the Los Angeles Chargers on April 11, 2024. (Photo by LA Chargers) By Lynda Eernisse Females in the United States have infiltrated a male safe space and comfort zone, and they don’t plan on...

The Wizard of Western sees the Yellow Brick Road ending

“To my students, for whom I set a high bar, a bar that I turn to whenever I realize I am not producing my best work.” — Mac McKerral, “A Journalist’s life: People, Places, Things.” Gordon D. “Mac" McKerral nears completion of 21 years on the faculty in the School of...

Chasing the Great White Whale

Graham Martin drives toward Louisville, Kentucy from Bowling Green, Kentucky, on Interstate 65 on April 2, 2024 “Aye, aye! and I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up. And...

College athletes collecting with the ‘Collectives’

Above: (Redshirt senior guard and forward Dontaie Allen analyzes the play before making a move during a game in E.A. Diddle Arena. | Photo by: Wyatt Richardson) By Molly St. Clair When the Red Towel Trust launched in 2022, “Name, Image and Likeness” called NIL for...

Prof’s curiousity takes him throughout the world

Rickie Allen Scoutmaster of Troop 155 at Fort Knox, Kentucky has served in the military for the past 24 years. Active in scouts as a child Rickie became active as a leader while stationed in South Korea. Photo by Jonathan Adams By Maegan Hale Jonathan Adams, full-time...

Like Father, like Son

By Michael Collins Finchville, Kentucky, is a small, unincorporated town about 30 minutes outside Louisville.  A mile-long stretch of road guides happy, small-town homes in a straight line. A small park with a pond sits across the street from an antique store, a...

The art of not falling hard

By Michael Collins (Editor’s note: Unsplash photo by yns plt.) In the woods of North Carolina sits the Gen Z climber.  Noah Namvong is perched on a wood log bench next to a campfire, leaning back into his arms stretched behind him. Next to him on the bench’s edge...

Voter fraud tops election concerns

By Hannah Claussen Fleischaker-Green Scholar On Nov. 6, 2012, Ruth Thomasine Robinson, 70, lost her reelection bid against Sam Howell for mayor of Martin, a small Floyd County community in eastern Kentucky. Robinson’s three-vote loss must have come as a surprise. She...

Pandemic pushes up election costs

By Debra Murray Voting, once a simple task of waiting in line and filling out a bubble sheet, came more complex with the COVID-19 pandemic and a lot more expensive. The pandemic’s spread throughout the U.S. by primaries last year led14 states postpone primary...

Single mothers pave way for their children

By Ebony Cox Angel Shoemake, 25, of Bowling Green was not always a single parent and didn’t always attend Western Kentucky University. Shoemake, a Russellville native, went to a private liberal arts...

Answering Faith’s Call

By Mackenzie Montross The quaint, white house that sits between Student Publications and the Confucius Institute can often be overlooked by those passing by.             It looks like just any other...

Recovery: WKU student fighting for a healthy body, mind

By Ally Griggs Seven. Zero. Zero. Start. Inside the microwave, a fairly large sweet potato sits centered on a revolving plate. Turning back to the stove, placing one hand around the arm of the skillet and using the other to grasp the spatula, 21-year-old Hillary Bacon...

Restoring the fifth sense

By Austin Rutland Mylan Larsen, sporting a black “Deaf and Loud” t-shirt, darted his eyes back and forth between the Applebee’s waiter and his friend, Rebekah Thompson, as he tried to keep up with Thompson’s sign language interpretation of what the waiter was saying....

Finding a home at Trendy me

By Abby Ponder When Susan Simmons receives a new shipment of clothes at the Trendy Me boutique in Glasgow, Kentucky, she instantly reaches out to her customers. She’ll pull out her phone, snap a quick picture or two, and send a message. “A lot of times, new...