Some U.S. Students Say Press Freedoms Go Too Far

Aabe · Post by **Aabe** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:54 pm

Fun little survey. Scary new generation??
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Updated: 11:38 AM EST
Some U.S. Students Say Press Freedoms Go Too Far

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

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One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.

The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.

The survey of First Amendment rights was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last spring by the University of Connecticut. It also questioned 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.

The findings aren't surprising to Jack Dvorak, director of the High School Journalism Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington. "Even professional journalists are often unaware of a lot of the freedoms that might be associated with the First Amendment," he says.

The survey "confirms what a lot of people who are interested in this area have known for a long time," he says: Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes. It also tracks closely with recent findings of adults' attitudes.

"It's part of our Constitution, so this should be part of a formal education," says Dvorak, who has worked with student journalists since 1968.

Although a large majority of students surveyed say musicians and others should be allowed to express "unpopular opinions," 74% say people shouldn't be able to burn or deface an American flag as a political statement; 75% mistakenly believe it is illegal.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 ruled that burning or defacing a flag is protected free speech. Congress has debated flag-burning amendments regularly since then; none has passed both the House and Senate.

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Derek Springer, a first-year student at Ivy Tech State College in Muncie, Ind., credits his journalism adviser at Muncie Central High School with teaching students about the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, press and religion.

Last year, Springer led a group of student journalists who exposed payments a local basketball coach made to players for such things as attending practices and blocking shots. The newspaper also questioned requirements that students register their cars with the school to get parking passes.

Because they studied the First Amendment, he says, "we know that we can publish our opinion, and that we might be scrutinized, but we know we didn't do anything wrong."

01/31/2005 07:04
© Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Taxious · Post by **Taxious** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:56 pm

Odd...

Post by **Relbeek Einre** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:56 pm

Dear God.

OK, that's scarier to me than -anything- coming from the Bush administration.

Narith · Post by **Narith** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:58 pm

Bah you beat me.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article ... 2009990029

Excuse me, but what the hell are they teaching our children in school? Teaching equality and political correctness is fine but when you start teaching them that the freedoms t his country was founded on are a "bad idea" or just not teach them at all there is something seriously wrong. It freaks me out a little bit that the comming generations are starting to think that it is ok to suppress the free flow of information and god knows what other freedoms.

Kulaf · Post by **Kulaf** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:42 pm

After reading the site of the organization that funded the survey......I am not surprised at the results. The organization promotes protection of the 1st amendment......they needed a topic to ignite some interest......there you go. Without looking at the questions we really don't know the bias of the survey.

Falundir X`Viento · Post by **Falundir X`Viento** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:19 am

Kula said what I was thinking. If the questions were put simply then one must wonder what the kids were thinking of. Tabloids vs journalism perhaps.

Torakus · Post by **Torakus** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:19 pm

Perhaps these students are coming to the realization that there is a line between what the public needs to know and what they don't have the right to know. The massive amount of classified information leaked to the news in the last few years is incredible. There are certain things the public just does not need to know. It seems even as adults some of you cannot shed yourself of the junvenile idea that the govenment exists for your protection and you are not obligated to give up anything in return for it. Give up your little anarchy rules dreams and realize you are better off not knowing some things and those Chicken Little nightmares you have at night will go away.

I am a strong supporter of our first amendment rights, but I also realize that there are necissary limits that need to be there. But that is just speculation about what these kids are thinking and probably wrong. The simplest explanation is that they are just dumbasses. I have a hard time believing that highschool students across this country do not understand the basic freedoms and rights that the constitution affords them. My son is in one of the worst school systems in the country and he has studied and understands them in the 7th grade.

Post by **Relbeek Einre** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:43 pm

Please, Torakus. You can't be doing more than playing devil's advocate here.

Embar Angylwrath · Post by **Embar Angylwrath** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:04 pm

Relbeek Einre wrote:Dear God.

OK, that's scarier to me than -anything- coming from the Bush administration.

Good 'ol public education indoctrination. Teaching the 3 basic "R"s.... Retreating, Revising and Reliance on the Gub'ment.

Post by **Relbeek Einre** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:25 pm

Yeah, because catholic schoolkids aren't taught to knuckle under to authority.

Embar Angylwrath · Post by **Embar Angylwrath** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:31 pm

Relbeek Einre wrote:Yeah, because catholic schoolkids aren't taught to knuckle under to authority.

You mean being taught the basics of respect?

Rsak · Post by **Rsak** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:55 pm

Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes.

How the hell does the survey even support that view when the question are about opinions not on what is currently protected speech?

If someone does not believe in the 1st amendment that does not mean they have not been taught about it.

Post by **Relbeek Einre** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:45 pm

You mean being taught the basics of respect?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Embar Angylwrath · Post by **Embar Angylwrath** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:01 pm

Exactly the response I expected from you.

Post by **Ddrak** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:30 pm

Church schools do suppress questioning of established beliefs more than secular public schools do. It's more than just respect, though the pundits of the private system would never admit to it - after all they've probably been indoctrinated by the church system themselves.

Dd

Post by **Relbeek Einre** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:50 pm

Exactly. That's why Embar was so funny - he can't discern the difference between respect and indoctrination.

Aabe · Post by **Aabe** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 8:51 am

Does indoctrination count in the case of "Dont trust anyone over 30"?

SicTimMitchell · Post by **SicTimMitchell** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:03 am

Does indoctrination count in the case of "Dont trust anyone over 30"?

I'd say not, since that saying was popular over 30 years ago. Ah, another old guy.

SicTimMitchell · Post by **SicTimMitchell** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:06 am

BTW, teh funny here is Embar's statement that Catholic schools teach respect. Anyone else remember being a teenager? In my experience, the wildest kids were almost always the ones who had gone to Catholic schools.

Plenty to rebel against.

SicTimMitchell · Post by **SicTimMitchell** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:08 am

Fuck, three posts in a row. In the interest of fairness, Relbeek's statement is equally ironic. Catholic schools turned a lot of people I know off to Catholicism for good.