Most Back Curbs on Reporting : Survey: Times Mirror’s monthly news index also finds that 78% believe the military is not hiding embarrassing information.

Most Americans believe the military should increase restrictions on news reporting of the Persian Gulf War, despite protests by journalists that censorship could distort the public’s understanding of the conflict, a new survey has found.

An even greater majority (78%) believes the military is not hiding anything embarrassing about its conduct of the war and is telling everything it prudently can, according to the Times Mirror News Interest Index, a monthly survey of public response to the news.

Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said the military should increase its control over the media coverage of the war, and 34% said editorial decisions should be left to journalists. Only 16% said military censorship was a bad idea, and 79% approved of it.

At the same time, most Americans believe that the press is doing a fair job of covering the war. Seventy-two percent called the press coverage objective. Sixty-one percent called it for the most part accurate.

The survey also found that the the war is taking a heavy psychological toll, particularly on women. The most prevalent reactions to viewing the war on television are sadness (74%), fear (67%) and occasional confusion (65%), the survey found. Sixty-four percent of women report feeling depressed about the war, nearly twice the percentage of men (33%).

The survey, which interviewed 924 adults Jan. 25-27, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

The survey also found that the war has raised public awareness of the news in general. An extraordinary 81% said they are keeping the television or radio tuned to the news, and 51% said they are reading newspapers more closely.

For many, the barrage of instant news from the battlefront 24 hours a day has become something of an addiction, with 50% agreeing with the statement that they cannot stop watching news of the war.

Among these “war news addicts,” the psychological toll is higher than the average for all those surveyed: 21% of these “addicts” say they have trouble concentrating on their jobs or normal activities (contrasted with only 9% of others). And 18% say they are suffering insomnia (versus 8%).

Those under age 30 are more apt to be addicted to watching war news--even though young people normally are less prone to watch or read news. Fifty-eight percent of adults under 30 call themselves “war news addicts,” contrasted with 42% of those over age 50, the group that typically pays most attention to news.

About one-third of Americans are restricting how much war coverage their children can watch, the survey found. Forty-three percent reported that their children have expressed fears about the war.

The public is split over the question of broadcasting news from Baghdad censored by the Iraqi government. Forty-five percent disapprove and 43% approve.

Those with college degrees tend to be less disturbed by the practice.

By 75% to 7%, Americans think that TV reporters are digging harder to get news than newspaper reporters. Among those who read newspapers, moreover, 73% say newspaper accounts “pretty much cover the same ground” as television, while only 23% say they get a “better understanding” from the printed word.