ASSOCIATED PRESS, December 29, 2008: "Kent State shootings voted top Ohio story of last 75 years"

PUBLIC SURVEY RESULTS ANNOUNCED: According to the web site of the OHIO NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION, "Kent State shootings voted top Ohio story of last 75 years"...

"Since the Oct. 4 launch of www.NewspapersMakeHistory.com, more than 4,600 people have visited the website, including those from 47 different foreign countries. Nearly 59,000 page views have been logged in that time."

Why did the BEACON JOURNAL & RECORD-COURIER newspapers omit these important facts while attempting to minimize the historical significance of this epic tragedy?

Here's their aborted version, as published December 29, 2008:

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"Kent State shootings voted top Ohio story of last 75 years"

By Associated Press

http://www.ohio.com/news/36841089.html

POSTED: 03:11 p.m. EST, Dec 29, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio: The National Guard's deadly shooting of students at Kent State University during a Vietnam War protest tops a list of Ohio news events of the last 75 years.

The Ohio Newspaper Association asked visitors to a Web site to rank 75 major news events from 1933 through 2007 as part of the trade group's 75th anniversary. The Kent State shootings in 1970 left four students dead and nine wounded.

Coming in second was the 1969 moon walk by Wapakoneta's Neil Armstrong, followed by Ohio's mourning of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Jesse Owens winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic games and the blizzard of 1978.

Rounding out the list was Ohio joining the war effort after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, followed by the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed Akron's Judith Resnik, the 1974 tornado that leveled Xenia, the Cleveland Indians winning the 1948 World Series and the 2003 blackout.

The list was based on 316 votes.

*[end of ABJ & R-C story.]*

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SOS: please be aware certain local conservatives, including newspaper "journalists", are alarmed by such RECENT BIG NEWS here in Ohio.

The #1 news story in Ohio history during the past 75 years occurred at KSU on May 4, 1970, acording to an Ohio Newspaper Association (ONA) public survey which is recent big news widely acknowledged here in Ohio. It's all over the internet in various places. Just go to google & search for these terms: ONA Kent 1970 75 years.

You'll see everywhere (except in the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER which ignored the story):

ASSOCIATED PRESS, December 29, 2008: "Kent State shootings voted top Ohio story of last 75 years"

NOTE: anyone could vote at the ONA web site from October 4 till late December 2008. According to the ONA web site: "Since the Oct. 4 launch of www.NewspapersMakeHistory.com, more than 4,600 people have visited the website, including those from 47 different foreign countries. Nearly 59,000 page views have been logged in that time."

http://www.newspapersmakehistory.com/?page_id=2

Unfortunately, the longstanding journalistic bias of the local AKRON BEACON JOURNAL and the KENT-RAVENNA RECORD_COURIER newspapers soon was revealed once again. Omitting the mention of 4,600 web site survey online visitors from 47 different countries and 59,000 page views (as mentioned at the ONA web site), the BEACON JOURNAL & RECORD-COURIER arbitrarily inserted a misleading statement at the conclusion of their aborted Associated Press version of the story:

"The list was based on 316 votes."

The BEACON JOURNAL also buried the story on page B-5 of their increasingly-thin, disappearing "newspaper". At least the RECORD-COURIER placed the news on the front-page. We're still waiting for the PLAIN DEALER to recognize the news.

This journalistic distortion, "based upon 316 votes", minimized the significance of this major public survey. Local rednecks, always seeking to defend the National Guard killers, responded online by ridiculing the survey with predictably-insensitive public comments. THE RECORD-COURIER also promptly published an entire editorial on December 31 minimizing the survey, implying ballot-stuffing, etc.:

http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4496539 : "OUR VIEW: May 4th again 378 visitors to Web site rank shootings Ohio's biggest story of last 75 years", according to the RECORD-COURIER editorial, December 31, 2008.

***For the record: the Kent May 4 Center/May 4 Task Force DID NOT ENCOURAGE BALLOT-STUFFING nor were we even aware of the survey till the results were publicly announced anoounced on December 29, 2008! We dare anyone to offer any proof of public or private campaigning to affect this survey in any way! This popular, public survey was scientific enough, in our opinion.

Clearly, this survey reflects the quite obvious truth: as the ONA survey has proven...""Kent State shootings is the top Ohio story of last 75 years". Why is is this objective, tragic fact so difficult for conservatives to acknowledge?

However, though we have not urged such a public expression until now, we certainly welcome our May 4 Movement supporters to now view the BEACON JOURNAL & RECORD-COURIER web site versions of their biased articles and GO AHEAD & COMMENT to counter-act certain negative anti-student comments, if you prefer:
http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4495554
http://www.ohio.com/news/36867879.html

FINAL NOTE: recently, many newspapers are affected by the ongoing economic crisis, decreased readership & staff layoffs in the newsroom. The resultant loss of true journalistic integrity is a modern tragedy affecting our democracy.

But when propaganda is offered instead of "news", who can blame modern citizens for ignoring certain mediocre newspapers? This current example is only the most recent chapter of unprofessional, non-objective "reporting" of biased propaganda regarding Kent State 1970 instead of honest news-reporting in Akron, Cleveland & Ravenna.

At times like this, I'm reminded of appropriate lyrics sung by the great Boston modern punk rock-band THE UNSEEN in their song "Force Fed":

"Read the papers, watch the news,
Don't bother, don't view...

The propaganda, what you're fed is fake.
I don't know how much more I can take.

What they feed you is a lie,
all you can do is wonder why".

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