Are You Too Free?

The American Journalism Review reports that openness in government is under assault throughout the United States, along with journalistic freedom. "Fear can short-circuit freedom," observes Ken Paulson of the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Each year his organization conducts an annual survey of Americans' attitudes toward the First Amendment. Thanks to 9/11, the results are disturbing.

• "For the first time in our polling, almost half of those surveyed said they think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees."
  
• "The least popular First Amendment right is freedom of the press."
  
• "More than 40 percent of those polled said newspapers should not be allowed to freely criticize the U.S. military's strategy and performance."
  
• "More than four in 10 said they would limit the academic freedom of professors and bar criticism of government military."