Censorship is an oppressive, counter-productive act that results in ignorance. Censorship is when a government or media outlet controls what the public hears and sees. Many types of medium are affected by censorship, such as television, radio, news, and art.
In Turkey, journalists are being jailed for discussing issues that are unfavorable to the government (Arsan). If the journalists are being jailed for saying what they want or need to get out into the public then there is no real news over there. The government is just telling the general public what they want them to hear. In Sri Lanka, there are common censorship rules in affect to silence alternate views (Boronow). Alternative views are just the way of life. People are always going to come in contact with someone who has different views than them it is just how things go. If the government are just going to put in rules to silence alternative views then that means they just want all the public to think like them and they do not want people to get any other ideas of what they are doing.
The Chinese censorship effort is tremendous, the government have employ thousands of censors and internet police to monitor what is on the internet (Gary King). If the Chinese government puts this much effort into silencing what people are saying over the internet then who knows what they are really trying to keep quiet. People should have their right to say and discuss what they want over the internet or where ever they want to. If the government would be more truthful with their citizens then they would not have to hide all the information from them. Journalists in Indonesia is having a lot of pressure from the government to self-censor what they are saying (Tapsell). The government pres...
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...t can just find a middle ground for censorship then it would be a useful tool.
Works Cited
Arsan, Esra. "Killing Me Softly with His Words: Censorship and Slef_Censorship from the Perspective of Turkish Journalists." Turkish Studies September 2013: 447-462. Article.
Boronow, Clare. "Silencing the Media in Sri Lanka: How the Sri Lankan Constitution Fuels Self-Censorship and Hinders Reconciliation." Virginia Journal of International Law 2013: 724-761. Article.
Gary King, Jennifer Pan, Margarete E. Roberts. "How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression." American Political Science Review May 2013: 326-33. Article.
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little Brown Company, 1951. Book.
Tapsell, Ross. "Old Tricks in a New Era: Self-Censorship in Indonesian Journalism." Asian Studies Review June 2012: 227-245. Article.
McNamee, Gregory. "Absolutely True Tales Of Censorship." Kirkus Reviews 79.17 (2011): 1508. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
What is the true meaning of censorship? “Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body” (wikipedia.org). It is basically the control over how much unpolished information is let out into society, to protect it from the negative effects of the information stated in the rough version.
We want freedom, we want our voice to be heard. Through social media we try to stay connected with people. However our governments fear the social media because it can lead to revolutions like the one in Egypt. Our governments use internet censorship to protect themselves. Although some of use try to oppose it, there is a population that is fine with it. That is the connection of internet censorship with modern day politics. It directly affects the way people look at their government and their regime and their political views. The three countries I talked about use internet censorship however there are differences between them. North Korea is the most extremist country and it is maybe an example of what China and Turkey might be like one day. These countries are all related to each other somehow and
Heilik, Dena. "Of Censorship and Religion." LIS 582 - Globalization, Diversity, and Information. 10 December 1998. 8 April 1999.
Thesis: Although some people believe that censorship is adequate to select what things does the society will be good and can live around it while others believe that there should be no censorship because it takes away your right of expression of freedom.
The film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is in part about how the government responds to Ai Weiwei’s controversial artwork. Over the course of the film, he is beaten, watched, and arrested because his art goes against the Chinese government. The government tries to censor any content that may show them in a bad light, which prevents revolts from taking place in China since they never hear about the injustices that have occurred. Ai Weiwei, however, utilizes technology to spread information about what is going on: he uses blogging and recording as ways to make sure the government can’t hide what has happened. This Communist government, however, wants sole control over the economy and the politics of the country, but much of Ai Weiwei’s artwork fights against what the government is trying to force onto its’ people through the spread of information. With the technology Ai Weiwei uses, he is able to display the evidence of the injustices that are occurring in China, including posting the names of Sichuan earthquake victims on his blog and recording the police assaulting him. This way he can spread the information
The government in china is very concerned with limiting the freedom of expression for it's citizens in all possible ways. Let's examine first the reason why censorship is such an important aspect for the Chinese government. According to the book “A Short History of China” by Gordon Kerr when the renaissance took place in Europe from the 14th through the 17th century it changed people's view in many different ways because it was “a period of exploration, discovery and advancement in almost every field”(Gordon Kerr 87); it was a rebirth of the ancient traditions. Mean...
Censorship is detrimental to society. People can’t learn from their mistakes if we hide them. People can’t decide the best option if we say there are no options. People can’t understand each other if they don’t know what anyone is thinking. People can’t mature when they are “protected” from mean words.
Censorship has been used by governments and influential groups throughout history as a tool for political and economic gain since ancient times. The Romans thought censorship was necessary to shape the morals of society to match up with government ideals. During the 1500's the Catholic Church banned certain texts that conflicted with the established religion from being read. In these times the idea of censorship was viewed differently that it is today. With powerful organizations limiting information it was often impossible for an average person to obtain literature or hear ideas that vary from state ideals, they probably didn't even know that their information was being censored. We live in a different age today, information is more readily available and censorship is often looked at as a negative practice that limits freedoms. That said, it still exists today and can be viewed as an obstacle to true democracy.
Everyone has a voice and an opinion. Some people, unfortunately, are censored and denied the right to express their opinion because it is different. Because everyone thinks they are right, if something is new or different, it will, more often than not, be disliked because people do not like to hear new and different ideas. It is not right that some people can express their opinion and some are censored and cannot express their opinion because their opinion is different from the norm. Censorship is wrong because it denies an individual the chance to be heard simply because they have different ideas. It also restricts freedom of information, which is vital to the survival of Democracy. With censorship, moral, artistic, and intellectual growth would cease to exist, and people would have no choice to believe what the government tells them, because they would have no other sources of information to turn to. Nazi Germany used censorship as a prime tool to keep the average people ignorant and promote anti-Semitism.
Thornton, P., (ed.) (2010), ‘Censorship and Surveillance in Chinese Cyberspace: Beyond the Great Firewall’ In Gries, P. H., and Rosen, S., (eds) Chinese Politics (London and New York: Routledge).
Tackling censorship is much more important than it appears to be at the surface; taking down censorship would help preserve the expression of thought. It would help preserve the right to listen to the unaltered forms of everything. Most importantly, it would help preserve the rapidly weakening basic right of speech. Censorship has always altered the lives of many people, whether they know it or not. People are constantly exposed to the censored version of entertainment.
Censorship allows governments more control of society than they already have, slowly progressing governments utilizing censorship to a dictatorship. Often times, this censorship can lead to immense rebellions. A good example of this is in China, where Google has been censored by a provider called The Great Firewall of China, which censors information that could be viewed as defamatory or insulting to Chinese government and culture. According to the article “Google turns off China censorship warning” as published by BBC News Technology, “Google has had a rocky relationship with the Chinese authorities since January 2010, when the company said it may shut down Chinese operations due to a ‘sophisticated and targeted’ cyber attack. Google said at the time that it was no longer willing to censor the Google search engine”. Many journalists have also taken a look at Egypt, which also utilizes censorship. According to “Egyptian authorities step up censorship” as published by the Committee to Protect Journalists website, the new military-run Egyptian government is censoring news outlets and keep journalists, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates. “Egyptia...
In the document, Media transformation, Ownership and Diversity, the ANC criticises the South African media’s self-regulatory model. The fact that the media are first and foremost corporations is incredibly important. Following the recent decline in print media consumption, journalistic standards have dropped following budget cuts by the corporations. (Duncan, 2014, p. 170) Because of the former self-regulatory model, the ANC were concerned that journalists would not call each other out on lapses of ethical conduct.
Interests: China’s leaders desire to improve their nation’s economy while preserving political stability. They want to censor political discussions to prevent “westernization” of China,