Daily Archives: September 20, 2014

Ocala Fixes First Amendment Violations; Saggy Pants Allowed

By: Hailey Holloway

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Ocala Fixes First Amendment Violations; Saggy Pants Allowed - Video

Larry Flynt and the First Amendment
The controversial creator of Hustler Magazine, Larry Flynt, gives his views on the First Amendment and free speech, in conversation with Newseum Institute Fi...

By: Newseum

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Larry Flynt and the First Amendment - Video

Let me start out by admitting my bias. I'm a strong supporter of the First Amendment. With very few exceptions (like child sex abuse images and yelling "fire" in a crowded theater), I believe that free speech is an absolute right for people of all ages and it makes me feel good when I learn that others, especially young people, tend to agree.

The reason I love it when young people support free speech is because they are our future.

If people grow up believing in something, they're more likely to continue to hold those beliefs as they get older. So, I'm especially pleased that high school students are even more supportive of free speech than adults, according to a new survey from the Knight Foundation.

The foundation conducted a national study of 10,463 high school students and 588 teachers to coincide with the celebration of Constitution Day, which took place Wednesday. Several of the questions were identical to those of a Newseum Institute survey of adults, which enabled researchers to compare results across age groups.

What the study found is that students are more supportive of free speech rights than adults, with the heaviest consumers of social media showing the strongest support. The study found that only 24 percent of students agreed that the "First Amendment goes too far" compared to 38 percent of adults who responded to similar questions. This is a major shift from most previous surveys such as in 2006 when 45 percent of students felt that way compared to 23 percent of adults.

The study also found that today's students are more likely to agree that people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions with 88 percent agreeing this year compared to 76 percent in 2007 and 83 percent in 2004. There is also increased agreement that "newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of a story," up from 51 percent in 2004 to 61 percent this year.

I was fascinated by the finding that students who more frequently use social media are more likely to support people's right to express unpopular opinions. Among those who use social media more than once a day, 62 percent support other people's rights to express unpopular opinions compared to 54 percent who use it just once a day or several times a week and 49 percent of youth who use social media weekly or less often. More than 7 in 10 students who read news online more than once a day support other people's right of speech, compared to 53 percent of those who read online news weekly.

Of course, correlations don't prove causation. There could be other factors at play, but the fact that social media use does correlate to first amendment support is encouraging, considering how many young people are using social media.

The study looked at such issues as free speech, surveillance and privacy. There is also a correlation between studying about First Amendment rights and support for free speech. Since 2004, the percentage of students who say they have taken First Amendment classes increased from 58 percent to 70 percent, according to the report.

In an interview, Eric Newton, senior adviser to the president of the Knight Foundation, said that interviews with journalism faculty confirmed that "what's really important is news and media digital literacy being taught more significantly in high school. Just mentioning the First Amendment in a social studies class isn't' enough." He said that "the flip side of freedom and responsibility is that you need to not ban digital media but actually teach students all about digital media in school. How to create it, how to navigate it and how to use it."

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Magid: High school kids show strong support for First Amendment

With his First Amendment challenge pending before the Florida Supreme Court, GOP political consultant Pat Bainter issued a rare statement calling out the court after oral arguments today in which he urged the court to keep secret his emails related to redistricting.

Bainter is now suggesting that the "institutional integrity of the court is at stake" in how they rule.

Here's the statement:

Statement on behalf of Pat Bainter, president and owner of Data Targeting, Inc.

Todays Supreme Court hearing is the culmination of a legal assault and press sensationalism as to whether or not I, a private citizen, have the right to petition my government without fear of a political inquisition into my private matters. After today's hearing, it is clear to me that, as interpreted by the Florida Supreme Court, Amendments 5 & 6 are unconstitutional because they criminalize political speech based upon its content.One only need to read theAmendments to see that even its authors knewthey could not stifle a citizen's free speech when they applied the Amendments only to the Legislature, the Amendment title reading Standards for the Legislature in redistricting.

The very institutional integrity of the Florida Supreme Court is at stake in this matter.

The Democratic Party has poured tens of millions of dollars into this legal assault. The Democrats have manipulated a more than willing legal system to coerce me by legal threat to reveal my private internal political opinions, analysis, expertise and even trade secrets, even though I am neither elected to office nor employed by the Legislature.

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GOP consultant threatens court that its 'intrigity is at stake' over his case