A new survey of 112,003 students released today finds that one in three say the press ought to be more restricted -- and 36% think newspapers should get 'government approval' before stories are published.
"The study was sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The foundation's president, Hodding Carter, called the results 'not only disturbing; they are dangerous.'
"The numbers: 32% say the press enjoys 'too much freedom.' Some 37% say it has the right amount, with 10% voting saying too little. The survey found that a bare majority, 51%, said newspapers should be able to publish freely, with 36% okaying government approval.
"In addition, nearly three-fourths of students polled, 73%, either did not know how they felt about the First Amendment or admitted taking it for granted, while half thought the government had the power to censor the Internet. Meanwhile, 75% wrongly believed flag burning was illegal.
"The study also revealed that the more students were exposed to First Amendment and new media courses in the classroom, the more involved they were in student journalism. For example, among those students who had taken First Amendment or other press-related courses, 87% believed people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, while only 68% of those who had not taken such classes shared the belief."
"The study was designed to gather data from administrators, students and faculty at a random sample of schools. In order to study potential clustered or hierarchical relationships between variables, the survey collected data from administrators, students and faculty at the same schools. The current study is based on an analysis of summary interviews with 544 school administrators, detailed interviews with 327 principals or other senior administrators, 7,889 faculty members, and 112,003 students."
Pedagogy of the oppressed?
"The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote that, in the rapacity that the industrial revolution created, people first surrendered their minds or the capacity to reason, then their hearts or the capacity to empathize, until all that was left of the original human equipment was the senses or their selfish demands for gratification. At that point, humans entered the stage of market commodities and market consumers -- one more thing in the commercial landscape. Without minds or hearts, they are instrumentalized to buy whatever deadens their clamoring and frightened senses -- official lies, immoral wars, Barbies, and bankrupt educations."
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