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...
... middle of paper ...
...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.
"A Global History of Censorship." Guarding Public Morality: A Global History of Censorship. N p.g., 20 Mar. 2010. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.
McNamee, Gregory. "Absolutely True Tales Of Censorship." Kirkus Reviews 79.17 (2011): 1508. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
The internet is a place where people can freely express their political or other views for people to see. A recent study, Freedom of Net, by the activist group Freedom House shows both the immense censorship of information around the world and the declining freedom of information around the world, “Two-thirds of all internet users, 67 per cent, live in countries where criticism of the government, military, or ruling family are subject to censorship” (APF & Bell). The report by Freedom House digs into the censorship of government criticism, military criticism, and negative views on the ruling family in two thirds of countries studied in the report with governments around the world are silencing the voices of people and their publications. By censoring the people's voices, the governments are able to control the population and their views on not only their own government, but also countries around the world. Governments around the world are stepping up their censorship of public information posted on social media by taking actions to suppress the publications before they even begin. The report by Freedom House shares how police around the world are arresting and punishing those who have taken to social media to complain about a topic that makes the country look bad. The report states: “Social media users face unprecedented penalties, as authorities in 38 countries made
The media censorship appears in various forms and in almost all countries; few have legal systems that guarantee absolute freedom of the media.
Government and media influencing each other is a tender ethical situation. Initially, it seems simply appalling that any government would either censor or use its media as a tool, but considering the possible benefits of such acts makes the issue more complex. What if censorship saves lives? What if manipulating the media brings a resolution to a conflict?
2. Censorship: Opposing Viewpoints, Ed. Lisa Orr. San Diego, CA Steffens, Bradley. Censorship. Ed. Lucent Books
Tripathi, Salil. "Drawing a Line." Index on Censorship. 2 (2005): 162-168. EBSCOhost. Accessed March 22, 2010.
There are several stories of attacks caused as a result of this kind of censorship aimed at silencing others. For instance, the January, 2015 attack on the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France for depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a cartoon. In fact, this is not the first time this newspaper was on attack; In 2011, the office was badly damaged by a firebomb after it published a spoof issue “guest edited” by the Prophet Mohammad (“Satirical Magazine is” Par. 1). All this aggression towards journalists and their work because someone did not agree with the content. This will cause people to become scared of writing controversial contents, which will lead to self-censorship or having a limited
The action of censoring means to examine a material in order to find and delete any objectionable content. This act has been used by many different organizations, both governmental and religious, to help push certain ideologies upon the public. It has been one of the foundations of society since ancient times, turning censoring and its institutional use as a normal facet of life. Although, in some situations, censorship by both governmental and religious institutions, can be an acceptable way to protect the public; but in most situations, it is nothing more than manipulation by a deceitful elite trying to keep their ideologies in power.
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. People can’t be themselves when they are being censored.
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.
Xu, Beina. "Media Censorship in China." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .
Censorship as defined by Wikipedia 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. This context in itself is not acceptable as we have no rights to limit a person’s freedom of speech as that is the basic right we have as humans. However, censorship is a step taken by relevant authorities in order to maintain national security and stability, limit actions that may insight disregard for the law be it violence or causing harm to others and prevent the corruption of children. The first point that is going to be pointed out in this essay is regarding national security and stability. It is a common practice by governments aro...
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...
Censorship can be very beneficial to society. Tom Blankley, who works in the Edelman public relations firm in Washington agrees. By looking at his analysis on censorship which is,