Depressing but not unexpected news from the campus culture-war front:
Nearly half of college students believe in curtailing the news media’s access to campus events in certain scenarios, such as when protesters want to be left alone (48 percent), when they believe a reporter will be biased (49 percent), and when they want to tell the story themselves on social media (44 percent), a new Gallup survey has found.
College students pay lip service to the First Amendment and free speech and the press it protects, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education, but they don't seem to care for the on-the-ground implications of these liberties:
Fifty-nine percent of students are also critical of the news media’s ability to fairly and accurately report the news, while views on social media vary. Eight in 10 students in the survey agreed that social media allows people to have control of their own story and to express their views. Less than half of students, though, said that conversations on social media are civil, and 74 percent believe it’s too easy to hide behind anonymity.
Students’ skepticism of the news media was highlighted during the turmoil at the University of Missouri at Columbia last fall, when some people tried to limit reporters’ access to an encampment of protesters, and instead tell the story on social media.
Those "some people" would mainly consist of since-fired Mizzou communications professor Melissa Click, whose efforts to " limit reporters' access" consisted in calling for "some muscle" to oust them physically, it is to be presumed. The fact that 59 percent of college students seem to think that Click's stance was justified shows something about their general attitude toward the real-world application of First Amendment rights.
The good news: Students don't seem too fond of the political correctness that most colleges are forcing on their students in the name of sensitivity:
While more than 75 percent of students believe colleges should expose students to all types of speech and viewpoints, a majority of students believe campus climates prevent people from saying what they believe out of fears of offending others.
So there may be some hope for U.S. college students.