Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary, but they draw the line at imposing that same requirement on the Internet. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say leave radio and TV alone, too.
At the same time, 71% say it is already possible for just about any political view to be heard in today’s media, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty percent (20%) do not agree.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) say the government should not require websites and blog sites that offer political commentary to present opposing viewpoints. But 31% believe the Internet sites should be forced to balance their commentary
Rasmussen Reports: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a presidential election.
I find these statistics disturbing, even if they aren't over 50%. It sounds like a lot of Americans are all for government control of the media. Yes, the media should be unbiased and neutral when it comes to politics. But don't these people realize that allowing the government to control what goes on the air means that it could lead to government censorship of certain stories - which violates freedom of the press.
This survey should've gone deeper into who they were surveying. Meaning, they should've asked what were the political beliefs of those surveyed. Because as someone who works in broadcasting, I'm not happy with this survey.