The Effects of Censorship

790 Words2 Pages

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.

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