Retiring after 39 years at the Sun,
Bartleman reflects on legislative reporting
Bill Bartleman, a 1971 journalism graduate, retired from The Paducah Sun after 39 years Dec. 1.
Kentucky's longest-running legislative reporter was hired Jan. 7, 1972, as a reporter/photographer with most his duties in photography. Bartleman served as the photo editor of The Murray State News his senior at MSU.
In 1975 he took over the paper's government politics beat and covered every session of the Kentucky legislature from 1976-2007. In the past three years he made fewer visits to Frankfort and relied on phone and the Internet. He also covered approximately 75 elections involving hundreds of candidates, ranging from president to city councilmen.
A frequent commentator for more than 30 years on Kentucky Educational Television's "Comment on Kentucky," Bartleman also served as panelist for KET political debates for governor, U. S. senator and other offices. He also was a regular on election-night coverage by KET.
In 2008, he moderated a U.S. Senate candidate debate between Sen. Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford, which was carried on C-SPAN.
For two years (1983-85) he served as co-adviser to The Murray State News while he continued working full-time at the Sun. He also was an adjunct teacher of journalism courses from 1983-86.
Upon his retirement, he became an administrator at Mid-Continent University in Mayfield.
"Retiring was a tough decision because I love reporting even more today than I did 39 years ago," Bartleman said. "But it was time to leave it with younger reporters and an excellent opportunity came along."
Bartleman said the foundation for his career was laid as a student at Murray State.
"I transferred to Murray in 1969 after graduating from a community college in Pennsylvania to pursue majors in business and education," Bartleman said. "One of the requirements was to take a couple of elective courses in other areas, so I took a journalism course. I really liked it and was inspired by the quality of the faculty. I took a second course, and then added journalism as a major. I don't regret that decision to follow that career path."
He was hired at the Paducah Sun, then called the Sun-Democrat, immediately after graduation. "I planned to stay a year and then move back to my native Pennsylvania, but never left," he said. "It was rewarding to work for a medium sized, family owned newspaper that had a history of excellence and a demand for quality."
Bartleman said he viewed his job as being a watchdog for that reader and keeping elected officials focused on their responsibility to be honest representatives of the people. He tried to be aggressive but fair and straightforward in reporting facts.
"It is a reporter's job to layout all of the facts in an honest and straightforward way and let the readers form their own conclusions," Bartleman said. "It is disappointing today to see that isn't being done. It is Fox on one side and CNN on the other. It is difficult to get unfiltered news that doesn't have a definite slant."
Newspapers also have been negatively impacted by other means of communication, Bartleman said.
"There are new instant sources of news and information that are good, but most of those sources lack local and community news," Bartleman said. "You need the local newspaper to learn about every thing from the latest action at city hall to who died in the community and when the cheerleaders are having a car wash. You can't get that on the Internet or anywhere else."
If you want to contact Bartleman, his email address is Bartleman@paducah.com