Poll results from a September 2002 survey of Americans’ attitudes may send shudders through the spines of those thinking the Constitution’s First Amendment freedom of press provisions are a bulwark democratic freedom and independence.

The annual survey conducted by the First Amendment Center finds nearly half of those surveyed say the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing freedom of the press, writes Ken Paulson, First Amendment Center Executive Director in the September 2002 American Journalism Review, which this year joined in the survey effort.

“The least popular First Amendment right is freedom of the press, with 42 percent saying the press in America has too much freedom, roughly the same level as last year,” writes Paulson. Nearly half of the 1,000 adults randomly interviewed for the first time indicated that the First Amendment overall “goes too far in the rights it guaranteed” – an increase from 39 percent to 49 percent in a year.

“We’ve seen willingness by many to exchange a little liberty for less interpersonal conflict,” Paulson wrote. “There’s been growing support to limit expression when it insults others, the codification of political correctness. It sometimes appears that the land of the free is now the home of the easily offended.”

According to the group’s poll results – which involved interviews between June 12 and July 5 and a sampling error of + or – 3 percent with a 95 percent confidence level – more than 40 percent of those polled say newspapers should not be allowed to freely criticize U.S. military strength and performance. Nearly half find the American media “too aggressive” in asking government officials for information on the war on terrorism, and four out of 10 think government should monitor religious groups in the interest of national security, “even if that means infringing upon religious freedom.”

“Clearly, the terrorist attacks have taken a toll,” Paulson writes. “Principles that sound good in the abstract are a little less appealing when your greatest fear is getting on an airplane.”

“Fear can short-circuit freedom,” Paulson concludes, based on the survey results.

For those supporting First Amendment free-press and other freedoms, Paulson recommends demonstrating “how the unfettered free flow of ideas enriches our lives and bolsters our collective security. Information gives us insight and the power to make reasoned decisions at a difficult time.” He writes that he finds it ironic that fundamental freedoms are questioned in the wake of terrorist attacks aimed in part at those very freedoms.

Asked if the media in America have “too much press freedom,” the percentage of poll interviewees responding affirmatively has gone up slightly in the past few years, to about 33 percent in 2002. Responding to a different question, 41 percent of those interviewed in 2001 and 42 percent in 2002 said they think the media have “too much freedom to publish whatever it wants.” Those pointing to “too much government censorship” declined from 36 percent in 2001 to 32 percent this year.