Trust in Media High, but Curbs Favored, Poll Finds : News: Times Mirror study examines eight nations. Many rate papers, TV more believable than churches.

North Americans and West Europeans trust newspapers and television news so much that many readers and listeners pronounce the media more believable as an institution than even their churches.

Yet, despite this trust, substantial majorities would like to restrict press freedom to protect military secrets, stamp out terrorism and cut down stories dripping with sex and violence.

These contradictory attitudes surfaced as a major finding of the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press in a comprehensive survey of opinion about the media in eight nations: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. The poll, released in New York on Tuesday, collated the views of a sample of more than 10,000 Europeans and North Americans.

Among the findings:

* More people get their news from television than from any other medium. Substantial majorities watch TV news in all eight countries, but only in Germany, Britain and Canada did more than 50% of those polled say they had read a newspaper the day before. (It was 49% in the United States.)

* Majorities in most countries believe TV and newspapers are unfair and one-sided in the way they cover the news and that the media tend to invade people’s privacy.

* Yet huge majorities believe the media keep politicians honest, help democracy and are a good influence on society.

* Americans know less about current events than any of the nationalities polled; asked a series of five questions, 37% of the Americans polled got all five wrong, while only 3% of the Germans, who did best on the test, failed all five.

Many trends echoed throughout the eight countries. Andrew Kohut, director of the Times Mirror Center, told a news conference: “We were expecting to see major differences in the way Europeans and North Americans viewed the press. But we were disappointed.”

Yet intriguing differences did appear, rooted in local tradition. The gap in trust between TV news and newspapers, for example, was greatest in Britain--an obvious reflection of the prestige of British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) broadcasts and low regard for London’s strident mass-circulation tabloids. Spaniards, living in a country that emerged from dictatorship less than two decades ago, were less enthusiastic about press restrictions than almost all the others.

Majorities in each country found TV news and newspapers believable, in most cases more so than churches and their country’s leader. The only exception was Mexico, where the church and President Carlos Salinas de Gortari are about as believable.

Without exception, heavy majorities said they did not find government officials, legislators and advertisers believable.

The ratings were not as high, yet still mainly positive, when those polled were asked if they felt newspapers and TV have a good influence on society. In most countries, majorities thought that both have such sway.

But only 38% of the British and 37% of the Italians looked on newspapers as a good influence. Majorities in both, however, thought that TV news is a good influence.

As an institution, the church did not fare so well. Attitudes toward the church lined up differently on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Only in the United States, Mexico and Canada did majorities believe the church is a good influence on society. And only in Mexico was the church rated higher in this respect than newspapers and TV news.

Yet there was much harping about the press. Most people complained that newspapers and TV news unnecessarily invade privacy. The exceptions were the Spaniards and Mexicans. The Italians believed that newspapers invade privacy but TV news does not.

Most of those polled in all eight countries also did not believe newspapers deal fairly with all sides in reporting social and political issues. All except the British had the same low opinion of TV news.

When pollsters asked people what they liked least about the press, Canadians, Germans and Mexicans complained of sensationalism; the French and British complained of invasion of privacy; the Italians, Spanish and Americans complained of lack of objectivity.

In principle, majorities everywhere opposed censorship. Those opposed to “putting restrictions on what newspapers and TV news programs can report” ranged from 73% in Spain, which experienced censorship only 20 years ago, to 52% in Britain, where the popular press is held in such low regard.

But this mood changed when those polled were asked about restrictions in specific cases, such as protecting military secrets, discouraging terrorism and restricting portrayals of explicit sex and unnecessary violence. Here the Times Mirror Center found what it called “alarming levels of public support for government restrictions.”

Majorities in all eight countries supported censorship of stories of “unnecessary violence.” Majorities in all except Italy supported censorship to “discourage terrorism.” Strong majorities in all except Italy and Spain supported censorship to protect military secrets and to restrict “portrayals of explicit sex.”

The Times Mirror Center is run by the Times Mirror Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times. The center conducted the poll--which it said has a margin of error of 3 percentage points in most of the countries--in cooperation with four foreign newspapers: El Pais of Spain, Liberation of France, La Repubblica of Italy and El Norte of Mexico.

Media Under the Microscope

The media remained more credible than religious institutions and national leaders, a survey found.

% RATING INSTITUTIONS AS BELIEVABLE

News- Nation’s paper TV news The church leader United States 68% 73% 60% 49% Canada 71% 81% 47% 53% France 68% 74% 35% 41% Germany 84% 90% 40% 40% Italy 63% 67% 52% 38% Mexico 74% 75% 79% 72% Spain 60% 64% 40% 27% Britain 53% 85% 44% 26%

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% WHO BELIEVE MEDIA KEEP POLITICIAN’S HONEST United States: 69% Canada: 76% France: 83% Germany: 65% Italy: 66% Mexico: 72% Spain: 68% Britain: 64% Source: Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press