Censorship in Media

The worst thing about censorship is violating individuals’ freedom of speech. The internet should be a free market with unrestricted ideas. Currently, the only exception constitutionally in the US is speech directed to inciting imminent lawless action, which is likely to incite or produce such action. Our laws should stay that way.

Censorship is bad because it suppresses people’s voices. Currently, the only exception constitutionally in the US is the use of words with the specific intent of provoking an immediate break of the law, which have the effect of instigating or producing such a break.

The way our laws should not change.

I am now working in radio but would like to transition into the film industry. I’d rather not be restricted in my artistic expression because of the opinions of a minority, who might find some of my work to be “offensive” and “hate speech.” The government has no business deciding what citizens are free to listen to.

Who would hold the “watchers” in check if they were able to regulate the internet? Here I mean the people whose job is to keep the Internet in order. Someone, somewhere, does not report their censorship decisions to anyone. One in a position of power has the ability to impose their political and other beliefs on the general audience.

To further emphasize my subsequent argument, I ask: who would characterize detestation? And what happens when the political atmosphere transforms and your beliefs are criticized as hateful by those who disagree with you, and you’ve become accustomed to the assumption that hate speech is censored? The level of censorship in China is really high. There are 30,000 cyber police working for the government, and they will censor you if you come out against them. In 2000, as the Internet was beginning to gain popularity, this cyber-police agency was formed. It is a branch of police departments in 700 Chinese cities and provinces (1).

When people are discouraged from exploring their own business ideas due to censorship, everyone loses. According to a BBC article by Carrie Gracie, domestic Chinese companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, nearly the world’s top cyberspace organizations, have profited from China’s exclusion of global competition from the marketplace. Large enterprises can easily eclipse smaller ones because they can buy their way into the good graces of these observers by donating to political parties (2).

The worst aspect of censoring is that it limits people’s access to freedom of speech and gives power to one person to decide what can and cannot be published online. Rather than taking our online liberties for granted, Americans should work to preserve them.

References

1. “China and the Internet.” International Debates, vol. 8, no. 4, Apr. 2010, p. 10. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=49020999. Accessed 29th Nov. 2018.
2. Gracie C. Alibaba IPO: Chairman Ma’s China. BBC News [Internet]. 2014 Sep 8 [cited 2022 Oct 23]; Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-29119121

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