By: Joe Strupp Poll: Many Think Press Has Too Much Freedom
Americans are less supportive of First Amendment rights than they
were a year ago, according to an annual poll released by the
First Amendment Center.
The survey stated that almost four in 10 respondents (39%)
believed the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing rights,
compared with slightly more than two in 10 (22%) last year.
The annual "State of the First Amendment" survey also asked how
important it is for the media to hold the government in check,
with 82% saying it was "very" or "somewhat" important, while 71%
said it was "very" or "somewhat" important for the government to
hold the media in check.
Roughly four in 10 people (41%) said the media have too much
freedom, compared with 36% who said there's too much government
censorship.
The survey was based on telephone interviews with 1,012 adults.
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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