Censorship in the Media

Megan Parks  
mp590317@ohio.edu

What is Censorship?

            According to the Oxford Dictionary, censorship is defined as "Any regime or context in which the content of what is publicly expressed, exhibited, published, broadcast, or otherwise distributed is regulated or in which the circulation of information is controlled." This can be used as a tactic to ensure control over as few as a couple of people to as many as an entire country. 

Why Censor-Free?

            Journalism cannot exist properly without the promise of censor-free news and media. From the book The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, “[w]hen the flow of news is obstructed, “a darkness falls” and anxiety grows.” This means that without access to full and accurate information, the ability of citizens and free people to be fully informed about their rights is weakened.

The United States prevents the direct censorship of media, with a few exclusions such as child pornography which is not protected under the First Amendment. Another quote from The Elements of Journalism enforces this, stating “We need news to live our lives, protect ourselves, bond with each other, and identify our friends and enemies.”

An article written from the white house website, shares insights to an executive order which prevents the censorship of online content, social media in particular. It states that "[Hand picking the speech American's have access to] is fundamentally un-American and anti-democratic. When large, powerful social media companies censor opinions with which they disagree, they exercise a dangerous power."

What does Censorship look like?

            Another reference made to enforce this idea is a quote from former presidential candidate and U.S. Senator John McCain. He was a prisoner of war for 5 and a half years in Hanoi, which is located in Northern Vietnam. He stated that “what he missed most was not comfort food, freedom, or even his family and friends. “The thing [he] missed most was information-free uncensored, undistorted, abundant information." 

 Censorship in countries such as Vietnam is extremely prominent and enforced by the Communist Party of Vietnam. Without access to current information and access to the internet and websites, citizens are forced to stay in the dark about anything the Vietnamese government doesn’t agree with ranging from political channels to human rights organizations, and able to be easily controlled.

In June of 2017, a lawsuit was filed against President Trump for his twitter habit of blocking citizens from his Twitter account. In an article from the New York Times, it shares that the plaintiffs being a group of twitter users blocked by President Trump argued that "By blocking particular people from viewing or replying to message chains because they had expressed views he did not like, it argued, Mr. Trump had violated their First Amendment rights." 

Photo from CNN article uploaded on June 9, 2017 on CNN website

Censorship in 2020

Especially when looking at all of the events that required media coverage in the first half of 2020 alone, censorship would have drastically altered the way important topics such as the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement were shared and perceived by millions/billions.

A lot of issues surrounding police brutality is the prevention of a citizen’s right to record incidents. Police have often been recorded using scare tactics and misinforming citizens that they are not allowed to record interactions.

Without the recordings of some events such as the CBC's video of the protest in Buffalo, New York, nobody would ever see the truth. On June 5, a 75-year old protester was shoved to the ground by officers, however, officers claimed he fell. Since the police's attempt to censor the media failed, America knows the truth.