Advance Praise for When Truth Mattered
Robert Giles has crafted an absorbing and meticulous story of how one newspaper — the Akron Beacon Journal — told the truth about a national tragedy in a time, like our own, when Americans were deeply divided. I’ve never seen a better demonstration of why good journalism matters.
JAMES TOBIN, author of Ernie Pyle’s War: America’s Eyewitness to World War II; professor of journalism, Miami University
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From the editor who led his newsroom through one of the nation’s saddest moments comes this story of a painstaking pursuit of the truth — and a searing reminder of how sorely we lack it today.
GENEVA OVERHOLSER, Pulitzer Prize-winning editor, journalism consultant and advisor
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When Truth Mattered is a newsroom thriller that truly uplifts and educates. Giles’ genius as the consummate reporter and brilliantly paced storyteller offers us a front row seat to an American tragedy. We see news — truth — reported as history is being made. Giles’ reflections on a lifetime spent reporting and editing offer all of us lessons on reading today’s headlines. This is an essential and dramatic book.
DOUG STANTON, #1 New York Times best-selling author
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Robert Giles forged his status as one of the legendary newspaper editors in modern American history on May 4, 1970, with his steady stewardship of the Akron Beacon Journal on the day of the Kent State shootings. This never-before-told account will take you inside the turmoil and drama of the newsroom, the campus of Kent State and the city of Akron. At a time when journalists are under attack from the very highest levels of government, this book is a reminder of why journalism — especially local journalism — is one of the last great guarantors of our democracy.
GUY RAZ, host, creator of NPR’s TED Hour and I Built This
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Four dead in Ohio still rings in our ears because Bob Giles and his team at the Akron Beacon Journal got the story and got it right. Now Giles delivers the backstory with the same attention to detail, accuracy and history. In an era when journalism is under attack, Giles delivers a crisp, punchy narrative of a little-known turning point in American history — and a call to understand just how key good journalism is to a healthy democracy.
BETH MACY, author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America
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Fifty years after Ohio National Guardsmen killed four Kent State students, the then-managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal scratches a nagging itch: He revisits his newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the local story that became a national flashpoint in 13 seconds of gunfire. When Truth Mattered shows a small, assertive newsroom (large by today’s standards) operating full-tilt, around-the-clock for days, then weeks, then months, even years in pursuit of an elusive truth: Who fired? And why? More importantly, Bob Giles asks how a local newsroom, now stripped of staff and resources, could possibly respond today.
HANK KLIBANOFF, director, Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emery University, author of Race Beat and winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in history
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When Truth Mattered is an important reminder that in today’s digital age, meticulous reporting and the quest for truth are even more powerful together. Then and now, journalism served as a tool for accountability. It is a timeless story that resonates today.
FREDDY CORCHADO, Mexican bureau chief, Dallas Morning News, author of Midnight in Mexico
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This book harkens to a time when journalists were respected, and troubling stories could not simply be dismissed as “fake news.” If you care about history, journalism, great storytelling, or simply the truth, you’ll devour When Truth Mattered.
JOHN U. BACON, New York Times bestselling author
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Building a full, truthful picture was the responsibility of the Akron Beacon Journal. It would require deep sourcing and rigorous reporting, day after day, one fact built on another, to tell the story of what had happened, how and why. Fifty years later, it is a story that demands to be more deeply retold. Robert Giles, the Beacon Journal managing editor at the time, was the right leader through those days and is uniquely suited today to put the events of that horrific week in the context of Kent State’s history of protest. His is a probing, honest, insightful portrait of a newspaper facing its greatest challenge in an era when the print newspapers were the essential news source in every community.
SANDY ROWE, former editor of The Oregonian and board chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists
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Robert Giles has crafted a powerful memoir of the tragic Kent State shooting. This is a heart-pounding story, where readers will hear the crack of rifles on the sunny college campus as well as feel the stress reporters and editors faced sorting fact from fiction in a race against deadlines, all the while under pressure from readers, the FBI, and even the president. When Truth Mattered shines a light on the vital role journalism plays in our democracy, a role that is increasingly under threat in today’s world of social media and so-called fake news.
JAMES M. SCOTT, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Target Tokyo and Rampage
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Journalist Robert Giles makes history come alive in this compelling and authoritative account of the Kent State tragedy. Giles weaves together the tension and turmoil at Kent State with the professionalism and dedication that led a medium-sized newspaper to win the Pulitzer Prize for its fearless coverage. His account needs to be heard by generations new and old, not only to better understand what happened that fateful day, but also to appreciate how and why courageous journalists do what they do to teach us the truth of our times.
AMY GAJDA, The Class of 1937 Professor of Law, Tulane University Law School. Author of The First Amendment Bubble
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The book is a testament to good writing, to the good journalism of the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper that attempted to tell the whole story, without prejudice. But the book’s title, When Truth Mattered, is a signal that dismay, and anger at current untruths, current bad journalism, propels the telling. Nothing wrong with anger. And as for kindness — I think there is no kindness greater than the truth, no matter how terrible it may be.
FLEDA BROWN, American poet and author of My Wobbly Bicycle and other assorted works.
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Giles puts you in a newsroom and on a campus as the news breaks. He offers a personal and professional perspective of how his newsroom staffers make sure they report the facts during and after the campus tragedy that wakes up a nation. Fifty years later, as many in the U.S. choose between truth and lies, the book's message resonates. Makes you grateful for the people who work in journalism, including the author of this book.
J. FORD HUFFMAN, Storyteller, Editor, Writer
(Huffman has reviewed nearly 400 books for Military Times and other publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, USA TODAY, Gannett News Service and ARMY magazine.)
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When Truth Mattered is good because Robert Giles made it a memoir -- a personal journey. That decision allowed him to remember details that gave life to the newsroom and the reporters and editors who responded to a tragedy with professionalism and courage.
It's good because it's so well-written and researched, and jam-packed with photos and diagrams and drawings. It's a fast-paced drama in which he has marshaled the facts to tell a gripping story while also making a strong point.
It's good because that point of view is bolstered by the facts. The killing of the four students was murder.
It's good because it tells how great journalism is made. And who doesn't need to know that?
It's good because this book gives closure to a tragedy that the courts and the community couldn't quite achieve.
And it's good because it strikes home today. Facts do matter, even though we have a president determined to obscure them. "Flood the zone with shit," Bannon told Trump. No one will know what is true. Giles fights back in this book by flooding the zone with facts.