Following the news on Twitter means people will be more likely to support the First Amendment, study says

Following the news on Twitter means people will be more likely to support the First Amendment, study says. "Students who actively engage with the news on social media — discussing news with others, commenting on news stories, posting links to news stories — are more supportive of First Amendment freedoms," said a report from the Knight Foundation, a nonprofit focused on journalism and free speech. The survey found a correlation between agreeing with the statement that "people should be able to express unpopular opinions" and social media use. Seventy-one percent of high school students who "often" discussed the news on social media agreed with that statement, versus 56 percent of students who "never" discussed the news online. The same correlation with support for free speech applied to teens who got their news from mobile devices and got news from online videos. The Knight Foundation survey asked almost 12,000 high school students and roughly 720 high school teachers about First Amendment rights, free speech and censorship. “This year’s study paints a very favorable picture of the future of the First Amendment. Today’s high school students are more supportive of free expression rights than any we’ve surveyed in the past. Thirty-one percent of high school students were very concerned for privacy of information online, compared to 65 percent of adults. Sixty-four percent of students said they would be very or somewhat likely to record a news event themselves if they saw it happening.