Media is one of the most powerful weapons known to mankind. It has the ability to influence and even control the way the general public thinks and consequently behaves. The media coverage of shooting at Kent State University in 1970 is a prime example of the power that media has over the general public. The media coverage led to an immediate backlash from individuals all over the country, including those who supported the protesters as well as those who supported the National Guard. The news articles written by John Kifner, Jon Corelis, and William Furlong contain different portrayals of the Kent State Shooting due to the difference in their descriptions of the protestors and the guardsmen. I will provide background for the Kent State Shooting
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In retaliation to the widely-held notion that the guardsmen were ignorant, Furlong frequently comments on the intelligence of the guardsmen. For example, he describes Private Shook as “a man of deep and lonely intelligence” and describes how the hard work of another guardsman led him to receive a master’s thesis. This underlying tone of intelligence that is present in Furlong’s paper is unobservable in the other two article. Furthermore, Furlong emphasizes personhood of the guards in order represent relatability. He does this by attesting to their values, stating that “their basic thrust is their work and their families.” Furlong also focuses on the youth in the guardsman and avoids the commonly made association between them and the older generation. He even states that one of the guardsmen is not “disposed to reject the demonstrators… nor is he repelled by the symbols that disturb his elders.” Additionally, he describes the moments when the guardsmen and the protestors socialized and states that “many of the students seemed content to have the Guard on campus.” In this way, Furlong brings out the similarities between the guardsmen and the protestors and makes them seem more personal and relatable. Finally, Furlong interprets the guardsmen to have been victims of the protests. While referring to all of the damage the protestors caused, he wrote that the guardsmen “couldn’t imagine that college kids had done this to their town.” This not only brings out the personhood in the guardsmen, but also explains how the protestors had victimized them. Likewise, Furlong states that the guardsmen were victims of a “ceaseless barrage of rocks, slag, wrenches, [and] anything that could be thrown,” and describes how one soldier nearly suffocated on his blood after having his teeth broken by a wrench. In these ways, the article portrays the
In retaliation to the widely-held notion that the guardsmen were ignorant, Furlong frequently comments on the intelligence of the guardsmen. For example, he describes Private Shook as “a man of deep and lonely intelligence” and describes how the hard work of another guardsman led him to receive a master’s thesis. This underlying tone of intelligence that is present in Furlong’s paper is unobservable in the other two article. Furthermore, Furlong emphasizes personhood of the guards in order represent relatability. He does this by attesting to their values, stating that “their basic thrust is their work and their families.” Furlong also focuses on the youth in the guardsman and avoids the commonly made association between them and the older generation. He even states that one of the guardsmen is not “disposed to reject the demonstrators… nor is he repelled by the symbols that disturb his elders.” Additionally, he describes the moments when the guardsmen and the protestors socialized and states that “many of the students seemed content to have the Guard on campus.” In this way, Furlong brings out the similarities between the guardsmen and the protestors and makes them seem more personal and relatable. Finally, Furlong interprets the guardsmen to have been victims of the protests. While referring to all of the damage the protestors caused, he wrote that the guardsmen “couldn’t imagine that college kids had done this to their town.” This not only brings out the personhood in the guardsmen, but also explains how the protestors had victimized them. Likewise, Furlong states that the guardsmen were victims of a “ceaseless barrage of rocks, slag, wrenches, [and] anything that could be thrown,” and describes how one soldier nearly suffocated on his blood after having his teeth broken by a wrench. In these ways, the article portrays the