This document discusses how media coverage of the 1970 Kent State shootings, where the National Guard fired on student protesters killing four, might be different if the event occurred today in the age of digital and social media. It provides examples of the television, newspaper, radio, and photo coverage from 1970 which was limited and lacked real-time reporting. The document then considers how today's digital media like online news sites, social media, podcasts, and smartphones could have enabled quicker dissemination of information, wider distribution, interactive coverage, fact-checking, and crowd-sourced visuals. It proposes an assignment for students to explore these differences and imagine how different outlets would cover such an event now.

1. WHAT IF MAY 4TH
HAPPENEDTODAY?
An activity to explore what media would look like
Candace Perkins Bowen, journalism professor
Aug. 2, 2019

2. First, some background
■ If May 4th events happened today
■ When protesters and the National Guard clashed on Kent
State’s campus in 1970, newspapers, television and radio
covered the events, some many hours after the fact. But what
if this all happened 50 years later?
■ First we’ll look at what was produced in 1970, then discuss
what might have changed if digital and social media had been
around to tell the story and show what was happening in real
time. We’ll explore how this could be a lesson plan for English,
journalism, history and other social studies classes.

3. Television coverage – NBC Nightly News
■ https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156607570673689

4. What stands out?What is different?
■ Black and white
■ Really bad video
■ No stand-up reporter
■ No interviews – live or otherwise
■ No apparent sources for some statements of “fact”
■ What else?

5. •The next day
• Large photo (but look at it…. We’ll
talk about it later)
•Black and white
•Page is mostly on the topic or
related ones
•What else?
What about newspaper
coverage?

6. • It’s the May 5th paper
• Large photo
• Black and white
• Head shots of those killed
• Most of the front page is this story
•What else?
What about newspaper
coverage?

7. What about news
photos?
• How many
were published?
https://www.ohio.com/photogallery/oh/20190503/news/503009994/PH/
1

8. What about radio?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k62eyXbR0I4
■ Just more than 60 seconds
■ Talking very fast
■ No nat sound
■ What else?

9. What was media missing then?
■ Online news site
https://www.nytimes.com/
■ Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/nytimes/?hl=en
■ Twitter
https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ea
uthor
■ Podcast
https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/podcasts
■ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkTimes
■ Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/

10. Things to consider about digital media
■ Quicker dissemination – what would this have meant May 4th?
■ Farther distribution – what might that mean?
■ “Fake news” and fact checking?
■ Interactive possibilities
■ “Room” for many more photos and visuals
■ Crowd sourcing – what if students were all shooting video with
smart phones?
■ In-depth possibilities?

11. What if this had happened in 2020?
The assignment
■ Explore these and other media coverage of May 4
■ Depending on course, divide in groups, making lists of
what’s different and what’s missing.
– For journalism or English class, assign each group a
news outlet and have them decide how that outlet
would cover the story today
– For history?
– For social studies?