- Lindsey Pendergrass trusts the government more than she
trusts the press.
-
- That's why she doesn't believe that newspapers should
be allowed to publish everything without government approval.
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- "The press just wants to print something that people
will buy," she says. "The government has to be true to the public."
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- The Gresham High freshman is not uncommon in her view
of the roles of the press and the government. About half the students who
responded to a national survey about the First Amendment disagreed that
newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval
of a story. When The Oregonian mounted an informal survey of readers, about
one-third of students disagreed with full freedom of the press -- twice
the rate of adult readers.
-
- The findings are in stark contrast to the goals of Sunshine
Week this week, when journalists are trying to raise awareness about the
public's right to access government information. A significant number of
students actually would let government control the content of newspapers.
-
- Felicia Taylor, a senior at Gresham High School, comes
from a family with military roots and is angered when critics of the U.S.
efforts get highlighted in the press. "I know and recognize that the
press does many great things, but at this current time, the bad outweighs
the good," she writes. "I believe that the government should
be able to have a say in what does and does not get published in newspapers,
magazines, on TV. The government should be reinforcing support of people
who work for and defend this country, instead of the people who try to
bring it down."
-
- I respect Taylor and Pendergrass for thinking through
the issue. Yet their widely shared views frighten me, and worry other students
and teachers.
-
- "When only 50 percent of high schoolers think that
newspapers should be able to publish without government restriction, how
hard would it be to start censoring stories?" asks Riley Peck, co-editor
of the Cardinal Times at Lincoln High School. "The media might raise
hell, but what's going to happen when half the country just doesn't care?"
-
- Leah Kirschner, a teacher at Grant High School, was appalled
by the views of students. That's why she first made her students take the
survey. Then, she required them to write essays about how those rights
are disregarded in George Orwell's "1984."
-
- The national study sponsored by the Knight Foundation
also found that a key to students' understanding and appreciating the First
Amendment is whether they are exposed to media classes or newspaper experiences.
The more opportunities, the greater support of the First Amendment. Yet
the survey, which also interviewed teachers and administrators, found that
many schools are dropping newspapers and other media classes, particularly
because of budget constraints.
-
- Reporter David Austin of The Oregonian has been working
for six years to expand journalism opportunities for students, particularly
those of color. Austin has led an effort to make a summer journalism program
for minority students sponsored by The Oregonian and run by the newspaper
and the University of Oregon a year-round opportunity.
-
- He also has worked locally on an effort with the American
Society of Newspaper Editors to revive high school newspaper programs.
Austin, with the help of other newspaper staff members, has worked to try
to revive newspapers at Parkrose, Marshall, Roosevelt and Madison high
schools.
-
- "It has been life-changing," says Jessica Ventura,
a senior at Madison.
-
- She casually agreed to try working on the newspaper,
named The Constitution, because she likes to write. It turns out Ventura
loves it. She hopes next year to go to University of Oregon, where she
probably will major in journalism.
-
- Ventura says she never gave much thought to why the freedoms
of speech and the press are so important, and now she can't imagine those
rights being taken away. As an immigrant from El Salvador, she never thought
she and other Latinos would get opportunities to express themselves.
-
- Today, she not only feels empowered, but as the newspaper's
Living editor, she's given voice to other students who otherwise might
not have been heard.
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- Those lessons are rays of sunshine all students should
enjoy.
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