She was a reporter at the Detroit Free Press starting in 1965 and has worked as an associate editor at The Boston Globe since 1967.

[2] In 1998, Goodman received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

In 2007, Goodman studied gender and the news at John F. Kennedy School of Government where she was a Shorenstein Fellow.

[14] In 2008, she won the Ernie Pyle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

In 2010, Goodman started "The Conversation Project", a group dedicated to the wishes of end-of-life care.