StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Media Censorship in the US - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper "Media Censorship in the US" argues media censorship should be banned in the US because it curtails freedom of speech, perpetuates ignorance, and leads to the concealment of truth. Gagging media is counterproductive as it leads to the formation of a society unable to exercise discretion…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.8% of users find it useful
Media Censorship in the US
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Media Censorship in the US"

Media Censorship should be banned in the U.S Freedom of the press could be both a good and a bad thing, but certainly, press can never be anything else but bad, in the context of censorship. Censorship, the suppression of words, images or ideas that are perceived to be unpleasant to the authorities, is a pervasive phenomenon all over the world today. In the American society, most news do not make it to news because of censorship, and the US media has been notorious for concealing newsworthy information regarding actions of the US government (Greenwald, 2013). Media censorship should be banned in the US to allow the US press freedom to perform its role of disseminating news while shaping the social agenda. Media censorship is unfitting for the US because it violates the fundamental right to freedom of speech, which is enshrined in the constitution (Target gdpi, 2014. Freedom of speech is an integral American value, as clearly expressed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, though this freedom has often attracted controversy at times. It makes no sense, for there to be a right to speak without the people to listen to what one is saying, due to media censorship, which is the ultimate source of news and information for the masses. Furthermore, the very concept of censorship goes against the grain of democracy, and yet the US has always boasted of being the best democracy around the world. In the context of media censorship, the difference between democracy and dictatorship has been blurred significantly because freedom of thought is one of the basic ideals of a democratic society. Moreover, manipulating content of the media does not help much nowadays because audiences always find creative ways of circumventing media censorship anyway. Evidently, censorship is counterproductive in itself, because it eventually goes against its own goal, by establishing a society that is unable to exercise real discretion. Media censorship should be banned in the US because it propagates ignorance in the population, by curtailing access to information. As the primary source of information, the US media plays a critical role of socializing the masses by keeping them informed of the happenings in the American society and beyond. The US news channels, newspapers, and the internet, as well as other forms of media have been very instrumental in shaping the views and perspectives of the US population. However, by censoring the US media, the US government is essentially striving to keep its populations in the dark regarding the truths of what is really happening around them, particularly in the government (Anderson, 2013). Dictating what the people can and cannot know through censorship is wrong on so many levels, as a handful of people in the government has no moral authority to judge what is and what is not appropriate for the people. Eventually, media censorship gets in the way of progress in the American society, because it limits access to ideas and freedom of thought, which are the principle forces behind innovativeness and global development. Media freedom should be encouraged in the US, to promote transparency between the state and its people, because a democratic government must be accountable to its citizens. Censoring information received by the public is wrong because it leads to the concealment of fundamental truths that the government does not want its people to know, such as cases of human rights violations (Halbrooks, 2014). For instance, the US government has been known for heavily censoring news from war zones, thereby misleading the public about wars. It is often felt that news from war zones does not portray the true extent of the damage inflicted by the war, and the exact cost of the military operations. As a result, many people do not know the truth about the extent of the death toll and damage incurred by these wars, hence remain impartial about this topic. However, the truth is death is a reality of war and the people caught up in the conflict in the war tone areas pay for it with their own lives and yet their stories never make it to news. It is unfortunate that the average American remains in the dark regarding some of the most atrocious acts of the government and its leaders due to the suppression of news through media censorship. Proponents of media censorship have fervently argued that media should be regulated, because media and other potential sources of information have a massive influence on society (Target gdpi, 2014). Media critics and independent observers have often observed that media today is rife with bias and skewed perceptions of events as well as reports, and this implies that audiences are often fed information that cannot be substantiated. In that respect, the media has an incredible capacity to manipulate its viewers in unimaginable ways, through its coverage of events around the world. In today’s highly commercialized news world, the media is often driven by money, greed and popularity, thus, what is reported in the news is often what the media outlets believe to be newsworthy, even though it may be entirely baseless. Unfortunately, whereas media outlets are striving to report what they believe the audiences want to hear rather than the truth, wrong perceptions are inculcated in the populations. In that case, proponents of media censorship have insisted that freedom of the media must be firmly regulated because, when left on their own, newspapers, news channels, and other forms of media cannot be trusted to cover events impartially. It is indeed obvious that media has a powerful influence on societies, but that influence is not entirely negative as we are meant to believe by the proponents of media censorship. Media and all other sources of information have both positive and negative influences on society, but without media freedom, media can be anything but good. A society needs to be able to exercise real discretion without any restraint and this is only possible in the context of freedom of thought and expression. Defending media censorship on the guise that media may influence the public negatively through coverage that gives a biased and skewed perceptions of events as well as reports does not hold water. In today’s information age, there are many alternatives of news sources and people can always countercheck the accuracy of news by checking multiple news sources or switching to independent and legitimate sources of information. Furthermore, today’s audiences are not as ignorant, as the proponents of media censorship would have us believe, because they can navigate through the noise in today’s media outlets to get to the real news. The simplistic view that people can easily be manipulated into believing whatever is reported in media is laughable, given that audiences have matured over time, to a level of consciousness that makes them critical in their views and judgments. The increasing level of literariness in the American society means that audiences are much more critical now than ever before and they cannot be duped or easily manipulated through cheap lies perpetrated through the media. In that sense, no media outlet would want to make a fool of themselves by reporting baseless stories that cannot be verified, for the sake of money and other incentives. Besides, the oversight agencies and authorities exist for the purpose of ensuring that media outlets adhere to the code of ethics of acceptable journalistic practice as expected, failure to which their operational licenses are revoked. Ultimately, media censorship should be banned in the US because it curtails freedom of speech, perpetuates ignorance and leads to the concealment of truth. Nevertheless, gagging the media is counterproductive as it leads to the formation of a society that is unable to exercise real discretion. In other words, media censorship does not serve any purpose as people are always curious to know why certain types of news or information have been banned, which leads to circumvention of censorship. Evidently, accessing the uncensored material is as simple as the alphabet today, due to the many loopholes that exist in the censorship mechanisms. References Greenwald, G. (2013). US media yet again conceals newsworthy government secrets. The guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/07/saudi-arabia-drones-media-concealment Halbrooks, G. 2014. How Media Censorship Affects the News. media.about. Retrieved from http://media.about.com/od/mediaethics/a/How-Media-Censorship-Affects-The-News.htm Anderson, M. 2013. Mainstream Media Censorship Exposed. American freepress. Retrieved from http://americanfreepress.net/?p=8724 Target gdpi. 2014. Media Censorship: Good or Bad?. Retrieved from http://www.targetgdpi.com/2014/03/media-censorship-good-or-bad.html Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Media Censorship in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words, n.d.)
Media Censorship in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words. https://studentshare.org/media/1854382-argumentative-essay-on-media-censorship-should-be-banned-in-the-us
(Media Censorship in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
Media Censorship in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words. https://studentshare.org/media/1854382-argumentative-essay-on-media-censorship-should-be-banned-in-the-us.
“Media Censorship in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”. https://studentshare.org/media/1854382-argumentative-essay-on-media-censorship-should-be-banned-in-the-us.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Media Censorship in the US

Should the media be censored

This work presents some strong opinion, directed against censorship in our mass media.... Bibliography: "media censorship Won't Stop Violence, Book Community Warns.... Nowadays governments of all the countries implement one or another form of censorship and try to keep national mass media under control.... The issue of social effectiveness and ethical correctness of any type of censorship is one of the most controversial and arguable questions, which are being widely discussed....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Free speech, privacy and censorship

The Chinese government has come up with some of the most sophisticated forms of Internet censorship in order to minimize or eliminate access to information on sensitive topics such as the Tibet, Taiwan, pornography or democracy.... Free speech is the concept, which allows you to speak freely without any censorship.... Fact that the United States has in many respects the least restrictive governmental policies in the world on freedom of speech, number of websites re-host their content on an American server and therefore escape censorship while remaining online to their target audience....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

What is 'News' Examine critically and discuss how it is constructed and produced

Studies show1 that self-censorship by… It can be argued that, far from carrying “all the news that's fit to print” (slogan of the “New York Times” since 1887) modern news media are more likely to report “all the news that's Section what is news A more cynical of view of the question “what is news” would give the response - news is whatever the news media choose to give to the public - or in some instances and societies - whatever the government allows the news media to give....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Filtering/Censorship

This flood of information often leads governments to be suspicious of its use and some may seek to Filtering/censorship Information is power and one of the few commodities which are freely available yet there are those who seek to restrict the flow of information as well as control what type of information is available.... censorship and filtering is a fact of life and I feel that various governments will continue to censor what their citizens can see, hear or read for various reasons....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Recent debate about U.S. media content or expression that is allegedly obscene

media content or expression that is allegedly obscene Affiliation: :Date: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the one mandated by the us government to censor the media from all forms of obscenity.... The path to achieving this objective has however been marked by hurdles as explained in the article by us legal.... The path to achieving this objective has however been marked by hurdles as explained in the article by us legal.... he first amendment of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression to all us citizens....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

Examine the Internet and social media use in a foreign country (report)

There are, however, some forms internet censorship and restrictions put by the UAE government.... All these restrictions of internet use come under internet censorship.... There are, however, many internet censorship laws and restrictions in UAE.... A large number of office workers and school students too also use internet in the Inserts His/her Inserts Inserts Grade (19, 04, Internet and Social media Use in UAE UAE isone of the most developed countries of Middle East and has taken an international approach in its development....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The Role of the Government and Media in Censorship

Also, peace has been maintained in the society since any information that can lead to conflict is censorship censorship is a good way of maintaining a peaceful and stable political and social relationship as it helps in upholding the moral values of a society.... censorship has played a great role in maintaining moral decency by prohibiting the media, musicians and other artists from exposing immoral materials and information to the public.... I need assistance on how my opinions concerning the improvement of censorship can be aired for the benefit of the society....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Media Censorship and Freedom of Speech

What should be remembered is that even though this move harms the journalists, media censorship over security issues of a nation is more of a necessity than infringement of the media freedom of expression.... The facts in this case are that the journalists; freedom of expression is being curtailed by the government through the media censorship.... By prohibiting them to tell the truth of what is happening with the claims over national security issues, the journalists are left without their freedom of… This freedom of expression is what allows journalists to research on issues affecting the community in one way or another and air out the research results to the public (Lin, 2015). This research will specifically focus on media In 2011, Egypt had been facing numerous security issue of the leadership of the nation and the damage that was resultant of the chaos not to mention the number of deaths and injuries was numerous (Kirkpatrick, 2014)....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us