Press Censorship Benefits the Censors, Not the Public

Allan Jenkins posted a recent survey by the University of Connecticut that, on the surface, says nearly 1 in 4 Americans favor government censorship of the press.

What the survey really says, however, is that 1 in 4 Americans are fear-absorbed, mush-minded, neo-con sycophants. Okay, that was an overstatement — I apologize. I didn’t mean to say fear-absorbed.

The Danish Jenkins, like many in Europe, are probably shaking their heads as the United States blissfully slips into a coma, allowing basic rights like freedom of speech and religion to atrophy. From the Patriot Act to Filibuster bans, we are giving away our freedoms without so much as asking for a receipt.

The media isn’t helping – thank you, Newsweek – but the answer isn’t censorship. The media needs more checks and balances in the form of citizen journalism, less reliance on cowardly unnamed sources and a stop to the fantasy that there is still such a thing as a “news cycle” with winners and losers. The day of the deadline is over; news is now an “always on” enterprise that earns its credibility not with speed, but with accuracy.

Let’s be honest: The only news reports the government would censor are those that don’t support the government’s positions. In other words, get ready for 24 hours a day of Ann Coulter, Robert Novak and the other attack poodles attached to Karl Rove’s choke chain.

Censorship benefits the censors, not the public. Time to wake up.