Copyright 2001 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
November 29, 2001, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: STYLE; Pg. C01
LENGTH: 893 words
HEADLINE:
Press Takes a Step Up in the Public's Opinion; But Poll Finds Majority Support
Government Restrictions on War Coverage
BYLINE: Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
In the struggle between the press and
the Pentagon over coverage of the war on
terrorism, the military seems to have the upper hand.
More than half of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center say the
government should be able to censor news that it deems a threat
to national security. The 53 percent supporting this approach represents a 5
percent drop from those who favored censorship during the Persian Gulf War.
But while a majority of Americans are perfectly comfortable with
muzzling the media, the poll released yesterday contains plenty of good
news for the Fourth Estate, which is now viewed as more
accurate -- and more pro-American -- than before Sept. 11. "The press has done a
job that the public regards as a good one," said Andrew Kohut, the center's
director. "It's the only change I've seen in 15 years in the right direction.
The public now needs the federal government more, and it certainly needs the
press more."
Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed rate the media's
coverage as excellent or good, down from 89 percent in mid-September but still
stratospheric compared with the scorn heaped on journalists during the
O.J./Monica/Elian years.
Perhaps influenced by correspondents with flag
lapels and cable networks sporting Stars-and-Stripes logos, 69 percent say that
news organizations stand up for America, up from 43 percent in early September.
Sixty percent say the press is protecting democracy, up from 46 percent three
months ago.
And yet the public doesn't seem to want a lapdog. Nearly
three-quarters of the respondents say they want news that includes the views of
America's enemies, and just over half say reporters should dig hard for
information rather than trusting government officials. (Interestingly, more than
half of men support this aggressive approach, compared with just over one-third
of women.)
The press gets mixed reviews on what's now called the home
front. While 58 percent see coverage of anthrax and other security threats as
accurate, 30 percent say there have been too many mistakes. Of those who see the
reporting as error-prone, most Republicans blame the press and most Democrats
blame Bush administration officials for providing misleading information.
Despite their improved ratings, news organizations haven't shed their
reputation for favoritism, at least on the right. Sixty-one percent of
Republicans see the press as politically biased, down from 68 percent three
months ago, while 42 percent of Democrats share this view, down from 55 percent.
As for Osama bin Laden, there's a split verdict: 47 percent say the
media have given the chief evildoer too much exposure, while 43 percent
disagree.
The media, particularly cable TV, are getting a boost from
bigger audiences. Two-thirds of those questioned say they are more interested in
the news than before the attacks on New York and Washington. Fifty-three percent
say such networks as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel are their first choice for
terrorism news, compared with one in three who chose newspapers (although only
11 percent picked newspapers three months ago).
Even young people are
less cynical toward the media. Fifty-two percent of those aged 18 to 29 say
journalists care about the people they report on, more than double the 22
percent who felt that way in early September.
At a discussion at the
Brookings Institution yesterday, Jill Abramson, Washington bureau chief of the
New York Times, said people "crave information" about the war
"because they see that information as essential to their safety and their vision
of the country." During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, by contrast, "they felt the
press was obsessing on that story and it didn't matter to their daily lives."
At the same time, Abramson said, "I find it worrisome that the public is
so willing to accept things like censorship."
Marvin Kalb, Washington
director of Harvard's Joan Shorenstein press center, noted that while 46 percent
of those surveyed said the press usually gets its facts straight, 45 percent
disagreed. "Another way of writing the lead is that it's a wash as to whether
the American people think they're getting the straight story or not," he said.
Kohut cautioned in an interview that the media's newfound prestige could
evaporate "if the war ends and we go back to normal and the press goes back to
chasing Gary Condit."
Trust in government, as other surveys have found,
is way up. Eight in 10 in the Pew poll say they have either a great amount or a
fair amount of confidence that the administration is providing an accurate
picture of the war. In another partisan split, 39 percent of Republicans give
high marks to government war information, compared with 24 percent of Democrats
and 20 percent of independents.
In a finding sure to please Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 82 percent believe the administration is disclosing
as much as it can about the war, while only 16 percent say the government is
hiding bad news.
Mike McCurry, former spokesman for the Clinton
administration, said the Bush White House "will read this poll as confirming
that the constraints they're putting on public information are warranted in the
eyes of the public. But they will misread this poll if they don't see that the
public also wants an impartial, hard-digging press corps."
LOAD-DATE: November 29, 2001
