A Probe on Public Opinion on Press Restrictions

Abstract

A survey of 203 residents of Windsor, Ontario showed that in general public feelings favoring restrictions on the news media were associated with specific news stories and the way they were handled. Matters of taste were mentioned much more frequently than substantive issues as reasons for desiring control. Respondents generally chose "soft" rather than "harsh" methods of controlling the press, with government control selected by a small minority. It seems a reasonable inference from past studies that the idea "freedom of the press", however, expressed, does not evoke responses based on deep-seated principles among citizens of Canada or the United States. The Canada-wide survey conducted for the Special Senate Commission on the Mass Media (Davey Committee)1 found that different meanings attached to the concept and its variants depending on the medium being considred, as did Shaw in his study of American university students.2 The latter study also pointed out differences among groups with different professional orientations. Stevens found that a sample of students held different opinions about what the government ought to require television and newspapers to carry in controversial situations.3 Becker et. al. reported that public support for press freedom varied according to political situation.4