Ep. 6 The Summer Interns Take Over

Nationwide polls on support for free speech are full of
contradictions.


Research conducted by Gallup, the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation, and the Newseum Institute earlier this year found
widespread support from college students for free speech in the
abstract. However, the same poll also found tepid support when
students were asked about specifics. According to the poll, a
majority of respondents believed colleges should be able to
restrict intentionally offensive speech and costumes that
stereotype minorities.


Another, more recent poll of the general population by the
Newseum Institute and USA Today found a similar result.


These studies, and others like them, have often confounded those
of us in the free speech advocacy business. So, for this week’s
show, we decided to send the inimitable Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education (FIRE) summer interns to Independence
Mall—adjacent to FIRE’s Philadelphia headquarters—to conduct an
unscientific survey of tourists’ attitudes toward free speech and
other First Amendment freedoms.


Are the polls right? Do Americans generally support free speech
ideals, and does that support fall off when, for example, it
comes to college campuses and flag burning? If so, why?


The results might surprise you.


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