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Austin Minnick is concerned about the proliferation of fake news and claims of alternative facts by those appearing before the news media.

Kaitlin Dowd believes even unpopular messages such as burning a flag as a political statement represent free speechprotected by the First Amendment.

Natalie Marteney has seen examples of messages posted on social media that might be hurtful to others.

They were part of a group of Meyersdale Area High School students who visited The Tribune-Democrat on Friday, and who represent a thoughtfulness movement among teens as they maneuver the tricky terrain of digital news, Facebook and Twitter posts, local and national media behaviors, and a divided political landscape.

Teacher Steve Smerbeck noted that his group is more engaged with the news of the day and in the debates over how news is generated and consumed than what he might have encountered in the past.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, said Minnick, a junior who writes opinion pieces for the Meyersdale school newspaper, which is distributed in electronic form as PDF pages.

You dont always have to agree with someone. ... Its a matter of treating them with respect.

Bittner, a senior, has seen a difference between how people interact on social media and how they might discuss issues face to face.

Either way, he said, it is important to have the right to say, I dont agree with you.

That sentiment is at the heart of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees citizens the right to speak their minds, practice a religion, publish news or gather in protest of the actions of the government.

A new survey conducted by theJohn S. and James L. Knight Foundation shows that support for the First Amendment among high schoolers is the highest its been in a decade.

The Knight Foundation surveyed 11,998 students and 726 teachers in what is the sixth installment in a series of national reports. The results were released Feb. 7.

The organization was founded by the former newspaper company Knight-Ridder and now supports journalism and the arts with the goal to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy, according to its website.

Some promisingfindings of the Future of the First Amendment study:

When asked if they had taken a class that dealt with the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment, 68 percent of high school students said yes.

When asked if they believed the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees, 32 percent of students and 58 percent of teachers answered strongly disagree the top response for both groups.

Asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions, 57 percent of students and 68 percent of teachers chose strongly agree; 34 percent and 27 percent, respectively, responded mildly agree.

Students and teachers alike struggled once the topicsbecame: People should be able to say whatever they want in public, even if what they say could be seen as bullying to others, and People should be able to say whatever they want in public, even if what they say is offensive to others.

The concepts of bullying and offensive tested respondents willingness to grant unlimited freedom of speech.

On another current topic, both teachers and students chose strongly disagree 56 and 64 percent, respectively when asked if people should be allowed to burn or deface the American flag as a political statement.

Also, participants were asked how concerned they were about the privacy of personal information on the internet.

Most of the respondents were either very concerned (31 percent for students, 50 percent for teachers) or somewhat concerned (45 percent for students, 41 percent for teachers).

Ina very interesting question, participants were asked if high school students should be allowed to report on controversial issues in their student newspapers with the approval of school authorities. Students said they should (30 percent strongly agree, 33 percent mildly agree) while teachers were more reluctant (26 percent mildly agree, 32 percent mildly disagree, 29 percent strongly disagree).

Smerbeck discussed a recent story by Meyersdale High journalists about a practice involving school lunches. He said the reporters got a fact wrong and then corrected it but the school administration never challenged their right to generate the story.

In my 30 years of working at Meyersdale, weve never had an incident of prior restraint, he said. Weve written some things that were unflattering for the district.

The Meyersdale group included seniors Bittner, Marteney, Kellie Montgomery and Tanner Deal; juniors Minnick and Kathryn Most; and sophomores Dowd, Kasie Campbell and Wes Caton.

You can read the entire Knight Foundation survey at:www.knightfoundation.org/future-first-amendment-survey.

The bottom line for survey participants and the Meyersdale group: First Amendment rights matter, Dowd said.

Thats why American is what it is, she said. The thing you associate with America is freedom.

Chip Minemyer is the editor of The Tribune-Democrat and TribDem.com. He can be reached at 814-532-5091. Follow him on Twitter @MinemyerChip.

Read more:
Chip Minemyer | High school students say First Amendment freedoms, 'real' facts matter (WATCH VIDEO) - TribDem.com