Americans to feds: Go ahead and censor the media

Americans tend to favor some censorship by the U.S. government in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a poll from National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government taken at the end of November.

Pollsters asked respondents whether the government should be able to censor certain types of news stories. The majority favored censorship of troop deployments or military plans (71 percent) and of the names of people arrested for terrorist actions (55 percent).

Fifty-two percent said the U.S. government should be able to stop the media from broadcasting statements from Osama bin Laden or his Al Qaeda lieutenants.

The majority said criticism of the way the President conducts military actions, as well as coverage of anti-war protests, should not be censored.

But many people did favor restricting those reports: 36 percent said the government should be able to censor criticism of the President's military actions, and 40 percent said the same for anti-war protests.