First Amendment discussion increases in America's classrooms, Knight study finds



SEARCH GIRAFFE PROSPECTS | MISSION | AUDIO/VIDEO RESOURCES | >MGP-FORUM | KEY QUOTES | HOME PAGE | ABOUT US | COLLABORATORS | BLOG RESOURCE SITE | BLOG NEWS SITE | MGP2006 ALUMNI NEWS | SUMMIT WIKI | CONTACT US | SUPPORT US | SPONSORS | REPORT A SIGHTING | Google News Search
Last Updated: Oct 12th, 2007 - 21:58:21 


Newshare.net
NEWS/RESEARCH TOPICS 
 
 A-About MGP
 
 A-CONFERENCE
 
 A-AUDIO/VIDEO resources
 
 A-Blogs
 
 A-Business Models
 
 A-Citizen journalism
 
 A-Democracy Futures
 
 A-Education & Training
 
 A-Ethics and Standards
 
 A-First Amendment / Free Speech / Press
 Access & Control Rights
 Copyright & Commons
 
 A-Giraffes at Work?
 
 A-Ideas-Trends-Innovation
 
 A-Journalism Futures
 
 A-KEY ESSAYS
 
 A-KEY QUOTATIONS
 
 A-Multimedia & Video Innovation
 
 A-Ownership, governance & management
 
 A-Podcasting & Audio
 
 A-VERBATIM-Interview Q&As
 
 Broadcasting/ Low Power FM
 
 Cable Local Access (PEG)
 
 Community wireless
 
 Conferences / Events
 
 Entertainment Industry
 
 Internet-Advertising
 
 Internet-Privacy-Online
 
 Internet-Technology
 
 Music-Future
 
 Online News Services
 
 Regulation: FCC and the courts
 
 Research / Demographics
 
 Resources
 
 Trackbacks/MGP in the news



Newshare.net
A-First Amendment / Free Speech / Press
Newshare.net
First Amendment discussion increases in America's classrooms, Knight study finds
By MGP Staff
Sep 18, 2006, 16:32

Email this article
 Printer friendly page

Knight Foundation survey of 15,000 U.S. high-school students and 800 of their teachers has recorded increased teaching of First Amendment issues over the last two years. The high-school students know more about the free speech/free press issues than found in an initial, larger, $1-million study in 2004 entitled: "The Future of the First Anendment."

(SAMPLE SURVEY)

But the Knight Foundation said the latest results also show students increasingly polarized about how they feel on First Amendment issues. A website with details of the findings by University of Connecticut researchers Dr. David Yalof and Dr. Kenneth Dautrich, is public today at: http://www.firstamendmentfuture.org.

"We see progress," said Eric Newton, Knight's director of Journalism Initiatives, "but there are still serious problems."

To make progress, things need to be taken to a different battlefield, Warren Watson, director of the J-IDEAS program at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., said in a Media Giraffe Project interview. (PLAY MP3 AUDIO; 8.2 mins.) "There needs to be strong public policy encouraging student media and civic learning -- perhaps something that might  require the use of media in schools -- which is something you don't see as much as you used to a generation ago."

Watson says the second key shift is to work with principal and administrators more. "If you convert all the students and teachers in a school, and if you have a principal who is not very prone to observe the First Amendment and use it in the day-to-day running of a school, you're gooing to negate everything."

In today's conference call, which included Watson, 
researchers reported  that high-school students are far more likely to take classes that teach about the First Amendment than two years ago. And more students now support protections for the news media.

The researchers said students are more in favor of their right to report in their own newspapers without school officials' approval. But more students today think the First Amendment, as a whole, goes too far in the rights it guarantees, the new survey research found.

Knight said the results show a gap is widening between those who support this fundamental law and those who don't. And teachers, while themselves increasing their appreciation of the First Amendment, don't think schools are doing a great job of teaching it, the foundation added in a news release about the findings.

Knight Foundation president talks about the influence of teachers:
http://www.firstamendmentfuture.org/report91806_acolumn.php

EARLIER POST ABOUT Constitution Day (Sept. 18) announcement:
http://newshare.typepad.com/mediagiraffe/2006/09/knight_foundati.html

EARLIER WRAPUP ON JANUARY 2005 INITIAL FINDINGS:
http://www.mediagiraffe.org/artman/publish/article_193.shtml

The Knight Foundation's contact for the study is Larry Meyer, vice president of communications
Knight Foundation(305) 908-2610,
meyer@knightfdn.org

OTHER LINKS:

-- The Knight-funded TeachFirstAmendment.org website
-- The  J-Ideas website at Ball State
-- The USAToday story on the Knight-funded study findings
-- Package on the Poynter Institute site overviewing the study
-- Poynter's "Tip Sheet for High School Journalists."
-- Why do suburban teens show less interest in press/speech freedom?

SURVEY BACKGROUND:
Key Findings
Methodology
Student Survey
Faculty Survey
Quotes and comments on follow-up survey
PDF of follow-up survey

Newshare.net


© Copyright 2006/2007. All rights reserved by original source.

This page may contain copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in the The Media Giraffe Project's efforts to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The Media Giraffe Project has no affiliation with the originator of this article, nor is the project endorsed or sponsored by the article's originator. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

"The Media Giraffe Project was launched with the collaboration of The Giraffe Heroes Project, a separate organization that since 1982 has been moving people to stick their necks out for the common good." Top of Page


A-First Amendment / Free Speech / Press
Latest Postings
Temple's Renee Hobbs developing handbook on copyright fair use
Conyers, Hall ask Bush administration to withdraw Balco subpoenas of Chronicle reporters
"Fake news" battle heats up via letter to the FCC; both sides allege distortions
First Amendment discussion increases in America's classrooms, Knight study finds
Blogger Josh Wolf awaits full appeals court hearing on issue of responding to subpoena for videotape
Broadcast news veteran Bill Kurtis, in Chicago speech, compares news with junk food and charges journalists to "do your job"
Center for Digital Democracy director lays out arguments in favor of "network neutrality" in Nation article
Net neutrality backers weigh tactic to demonstrate slowing of internet to congressional staffers and targetted media
Did Comcast "censor" a segment critical of its customer service?
When politicians exchange email and post to blogs do they violate open-meeting laws?
Newshare.net