Bob Giles
Kent State: “When Truth Mattered”
July 18, 10 am - Noon
My talk focuses on my book on the Kent State shootings, May 4, 1970, “When Truth Mattered.” I will describe 10 mistakes that led to the tragedy and provide eight guidelines to help news consumers figure out what’s true in today’s news. Good questions are always an important part of my talks.
Bob Giles and his wife, Nancy, made Traverse City their home in 2013. Nancy passed away in July 2021.
Bob is the author of When Truth Mattered: The Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later. It is the story the Akron Beacon Journal’s factual reporting that created a truthful narrative of the killing of four students on the Kent State campus, May 4, 1970. Giles was managing editor and shared in the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize for its coverage that American tragedy.
Before moving here, Bob was curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University from 2000 until 2011. His newspaper career of nearly 40 years included editorships at The Detroit News, Times-Union and Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, NY and the Beacon Journal.
Bob is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a graduate of DePauw University and Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Giles is active in several civic organizations, including serving on the editorial board of The Traverse City Record-Eagle.