Perceptions of Media Influence and Support for Censorship

Complaints about media coverage of presidential elections have raised concerns that the public may support restrictions on election campaign messages. This study, based on a nationwide telephone survey (N = 549), investigated perceptions of media influence and support for campaign message restrictions during the 1996 presidential campaign. The study was theoretically grounded in the third-person effect approach. The results confirmed the perceptual component hypothesis for individuals to perceive greater media influence on people other than themselves. They also confirmed the behavioral component hypothesis for third-person perception to lead to support for restrictions on election messages. The implications of the results are discussed.