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Key Finding 2

Influences on High School students' Attitudes about the First Amendment

More than 100,000 students around the country were surveyed regarding their attitudes about the First Amendment and the freedom of the press. Slight regional differences and sharper community type differences were revealed as well in the types of influences that are likely to shape those attitudes in the short and long term:

High school students differ somewhat by region in the amount of news they claim to receive by radio. More than half (54 percent) of the students in the South and the Midwest say they get news from the radio at least several times per week, as compared with just 48 percent from the West. Southern students are especially attracted to this medium as a means of receiving news, with 32 percent saying they get news from the radio every day.

Students in the West are less likely than students elsewhere to get their news from television. More than six in 10 (63 percent) of the Western students say they get their news from TV at least several times per week, as compared with 68 percent from the South and 69 percent from the Northeast and Midwest.

Of the groups examined, Northeast high school students were most likely to turn to the Internet as a news source: Nearly half of those students (48 percent) get their news from the Internet at least several times per week, with 24 percent getting their news from the Internet every day. By contrast, just 43 percent of Midwesterners, 41 percent of Southerners, and 39 percent of Western high schools students say they get their news from the Internet at least several times per week. Urban students (47 percent) are also more likely to get their news from the Internet at least several days per week, as compared with suburban students (38 percent) and rural students (41 percent).

"Think about where you get news, including news about your school. How often, if at all, do YOU get news from each of the following sources?from the Internet?

Student attitudes about the freedom of the press in particular may be shaped heavily by perceptions of journalists who exercise that freedom. High school students from the Northeast and the Midwest are more likely to believe journalists are telling the truth ? 65 percent of students from those two regions believe journalists tell the truth at least ?some? of the time. Meanwhile, 60 percent of high school students from the South and the West think journalists tell the truth that much.

The community type differences on this issue were clear ? urban high school students have the most favorable view of the media, with 66 percent of that group saying they believe journalists tell the truth some or all of the time, as compared with 60 percent of those students from the suburbs who felt that way.

Once in school, regional differences in the curricular offerings available to students do pop up. More than six in 10 students from the Midwest and South indicate they have taken classes in high school that deal with the First Amendment, as compared with 55 percent of Northeasterners and less than half (48 percent) of high school students from the West.

Percentage of students indicating they have taken classes that dealt ...

Interestingly, urban students are the least likely (19 percent) to say they have taken classes in high schools that dealt primarily with journalism skills as compared with 23 percent of rural students and 22 percent of suburban students who said they took such classes.

Participation in student newspapers also varies a bit depending on region. While 11 percent of high school students from the West say they have participated in student newspapers, just 7 percent of students from the Midwest and the South and 8 percent from the Northeast reported participation in student newspapers.

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