Malvin Russell "Mal" Goode Sr. (February 13, 1908 – September 12, 1995) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

television journalist and news correspondent.

Education and early work

Goode was born in White Plains, Virginia, educated in the public school system of

Homestead, Pennsylvania Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Monongahela River southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The borough is known for the Homestead strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relation ...

, and graduated from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

in 1931. Starting in high school, he was employed for twelve years as a laborer in

steel mills A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

, until five years after his graduation. Appointed to a position in the

Juvenile Court Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

as a boys work director at the Centre Avenue

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

, he spearheaded the fight against discrimination in the Pittsburgh branches of the YMCA. Goode worked with the Pittsburgh Housing Authority for six years and joined the

Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...

in 1948, where he remained for 14 years.

Radio and television career

A year later he began a career in radio broadcasting with KQV radio, doing a 15-minute news show two nights a week. Soon, he had a five-minute daily news show on

WHOD WHOD (94.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Jackson, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by Thomas Butts, through licensee Pine City Radio, LLC. Until mid-November 2017, WHOD aired a variety hits music format featuring prog ...

, where he was named that stations news director in 1952. In 1962 he became the first Black network news correspondent for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

television network as a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(UN) reporter. He reportedly received this position after

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

, who was the first Black player in the major leagues, complained to ABC executives about the lack of Black reporters. Goode's first assignment was covering the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

. He distinguished himself with incisive TV and radio reports during the long hours of debate at the UN. For two months in 1963 he joined three of his peers to conduct courses in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

for over 100 African students in seminars in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, Nigeria;

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, Ethiopia; and

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

. Goode was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

fraternity, and in April 1968 covered the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05& ...

, a fellow fraternity brother in 1971, Goode became the first Black member of the

Radio-Television News Directors Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as "rotunda (disambiguation), rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, televi ...

. In 1990, the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and professional organization of African Americans, African American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 197 ...

inducted Mr. Goode into its

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

. Malvin Goode died of a stroke on September 12, 1995, at the age of 87 in Pittsburgh. In 1996 the T. Thomas Fortune Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred posthumously on Malvin R Goode, sponsored by Garden State Association of Black Journalists chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, funded by

Miller Brewing Company The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the ...

and Philip Morris Inc. In 2024 a biography by Liann Tsoukas and Rob Ruck entitled ''Mal Good Reporting: The Life and Work of a Black Broadcast Trailblazer'' was published by University of Pittsburgh Press.

External links

NPR story about Goode's recently published biography with a summary of his accomplishments
(June 30, 2024)
African American Registry Biography

Editor and Publisher Obituary

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goode, Malvin Russell 1908 births 1995 deaths American television reporters and correspondents People from Homestead, Pennsylvania American broadcast news analysts People from Brunswick County, Virginia University of Pittsburgh alumni