Americans Value Press Freedom but Differ on Its Limits

A comprehensive new Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative finds that Americans broadly value press freedom – but many are open to certain limits on it.

Most Americans (73%) say press freedom is extremely or very important to the well-being of society. However, when asked to prioritize press freedom or accuracy, 53% say preventing inaccurate reporting is more important, even if it limits press freedom.

Many Americans also perceive powerful outside influences on the news. Roughly half say they think U.S. news organizations are influenced a great deal by corporations and financial interests (54%) or government and political interests (49%). And large majorities say they think financial or political interests at least somewhat influence which news stories get covered, the balance of political perspectives in the news and the accuracy of the news.

The report finds that Americans’ knowledge of the First Amendment and its protections varies widely. For instance, about half of U.S. adults (51%) correctly identified that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press from a list of possible options, which also included the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the right to bear arms and the freedom to own property. Overall, people are more likely to know who is protected by the First Amendment than how it applies to social media and private companies.

Additional key findings include:

• Americans’ overall feelings about the state of press freedom have changed only modestly over the past few years, but big differences between Republicans and Democrats remain. While Democrats often worry about direct government restrictions on the press, Republicans commonly express concerns about false information and the role of news organizations themselves, including their control over what news people see.
• 44% of Americans think the press has become less free during the second Trump administration. This includes 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, compared with just 15% of Republicans and GOP leaners.
• Substantial shares of U.S. adults believe powerful actors suppress important news. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say news organizations and individual journalists intentionally keep important news from reaching the public, while Democrats are more likely to think the government does.
• The share of Americans who are extremely or very concerned about possible restrictions on press freedom (46%) is similar to the shares who say the same about the right to vote (46%), freedom for people to assemble peacefully (47%) and freedom of speech (50%).

Read the full report: HERE