CENSORSHIP

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions.

Censorship

The parameters of the term censorship have been changed and manipulated very much over the years. Television and movie ratings have become more lenient against violence and indiscretion because these things are now seen as entertainment. Is this appropriate for our youth? Should children be exposed to these images so early on? How does censorship in the media affect adolescents? Children are the future of our society and need to have some understanding of real world occurrences. Ultimately, censorship can only be determined by the parents. The media cannot filter every bit of controversial images.

The government can retain people from seeing content in the media by eradicating it and only letting the public see what the government want them to see. Censorship can happen on a massive level like that or on a more local level where religious school remove ‘The Big Bang’ from the school curriculum so the children don’t have different beliefs on how the Creation story.  Censorship has loads of different areas from black inappropriate content to removing content so people only know one way or limits their opinions on something. Censorship can be editing parts from television/TV shows, prevention of advertising, promote/restrict political/religious views, prevent slender and libel. Censorship is a good thing especially for protecting children. In our society we are in a digital world and children, from a very young age, are using the internet and because of this, children are being exposed to material that they can access easily that is inappropriate for their age for example damaging to them growing up mentally, but how do we know what is “too much censorship” and do we actually need it?

The Chinese government is just one example of the authorities going too far in regards to censoring their media. The Chinese government has long kept tight reins on both traditional and new media to avoid potential subversion of its authority. Its tactics often entail strict media controls using monitoring systems and firewalls, shuttering publications or websites, and jailing dissident journalists, bloggers, and activists. In comparison to the UK where British citizens have a negative right to freedom of expression under the common law. In 1998, the United Kingdom incorporated the European Convention, and the guarantee of freedom of expression it contains in Article 10, into its domestic law under the Human Rights Act.

Overall, it can be argued that censorship is needed to a certain extent for example; protecting children of a certain age from violence, porn, drugs etc is something that should be carried out as children of particular ages should not be exposed to that through TV shows or the internet but instead should be educated about it in schools or by their parents. However censorship can be used too excessively in the instance of China and North Korea for example North Korea’s state-run press is the most repressive media environment in the world according to Freedom House, an independent media watchdog organisation. The government owns all the media, does what it can to regulate and censor all communication and limits the North Korean people’s ability to access information. There is no free internet, and accessing contraband communication is seen as a “crime against the state” and can result in prison, a stint in a labour camp and even death.