Tylar Sutton
Robert Giles had to make a call. It was right before the deadline for the Akron Beacon Journal on May 4, 1970, and there were two versions of the shootings of students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. Radio stations broadcasted a United Press International story that two Ohio National Guardsmen and two students were dead, but Beacon writer Jeff Sallot gave an eyewitness report from the campus that four students died.
Frenzied newsroom staffers shouted over what to print, and then-managing editor Giles announced his decision — Sallot. The Beacon printed the right version and quickly corrected the record of the historic shootings.
The experience inspired Giles to write “When Truth Mattered: The Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later” (Mission Point Press, $18.99, released in March), a behind-the-scenes look at the Beacon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting of May 4, to illustrate why accurate journalism is critical.
“My treatment was to focus on trust and truth in media and why it was important then and today, and how it made the difference in the public understanding of a terrible tragedy,” he says. Giles chats with us about shaping a national story, what it means now and how to move beyond the fake news era.
Q: What was the fallout of the erroneous UPI report?
A: It was troubling. The idea that guardsmen were killed would have reinforced the conspiracy theory that there were radicals on campus. UPI sent a revised lede after they heard our stories. Because of our reporting, the truth got straightened out.
Q: What was the rest of the day like?
A: You didn’t have much time to stop and think about the deaths. We had to do our work as journalists. We were flooding the campus with reporters and photographers. We had early interviews, Guardsmen [who] basically said, I didn’t think I was threatened by the students, which was debunking what the Guard commanders were saying. That became part of the thread of coverage that there was no evidence students were threatening the lives of Guardsmen.
Q: What was so impactful about the Beacon’s coverage?
A: We held the [Ohio] governor accountable as much as we could on decisions he made that showed bad judgment or prejudice against students that became fixed in the public mind. The idea fueled by the FBI report that there was no reason to shoot the students began to build support. Those things began to shift the mood of the public away from, They should of shot those kids to That was murder and they’re killing our children. A lot that happened after, like ending the draft, lowering the voting age and other things on a national scale [that] was influenced by Kent State.
Q: Could the Beacon have the same impact if it happened now?
A: The Beacon Journal [is] trying to put together a newspaper with 30 people or less. We had 150 in 1970. They lack the resources not only to flood the story after but to be prepared with a record of reporting on demonstrations in 1968, ‘69 and ‘70. We would have went into it blind.
Q: What do you hope people get from your book?
A: I leave the reader with guidelines to help them think about news they’re reading and whether it meets standards for truthful reporting. I hope people appreciate a time when truth and trust were a part of the journalistic experience. People came to depend on local newspapers — they could trust it. They may not agree with everything, but they knew the stories being presented were faithfully reported.
Virtual events are moving forward to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the May 4, 1970, shootings of students protesting at Kent State University. Find digital content of survivors reflecting, performances by Graham Nash and David Crosby and Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond reading the “May 4th Voices” radio play Here.
