Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman spoke at various University events since he arrived on campus Thursday, speaking on Web-based reporting, the importance of objectivity in journalism and other issues.

Dedman won his Pulitzer in 1989 for investigative reporting at the Atlanta Journal-Consititution. The prize-winning piece looked at racial profiling by bank executives in Atlanta.

Dedman has worked for a number of different news organizations, including The Associated Press, the Washington Post, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the Chattanooga Times, the Chattanooga Free Press and others.

Currently he teaches computer-assisted reporting at Eastern Illinois University and works as a consultant for the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

Dedman’s speech was very interactive. The speaker presented statistics he collected for an upcoming story and asked the audience to help him make sense of them.

Dedman asked the crowd how they would go about the story and engaged audience members in good-natured debate over different approaches.

“It was fun, it was like getting back in a newsroom,” journalism teacher Catherine Cassara said.

University student Patrick Hespen added, “It was interesting and informative–worth the time.”

Dedman came to the University as part of Communications Week. The speech was funded through the Florence and Jesse Currier endowment.