Why Is Censorship Ineffective - Essay Example

The media play a very significant role in educating, informing and entertaining the citizens of any given country. Just like any other industry, the media exist in a particular economic system where they must cope with the regulations of the government within a given political system (Dennis and DeFleur 1994). Under certain circumstances, the media are part of the government where information is strictly controlled and the media operate under the direction of propaganda bureaus, supervised with highly restrictive newspaper, broadcast and film organisations. As going to be critically analysed below, it can be noted that with the new dispensation of methods of communication obtaining on the ground during the contemporary period, censorship of the media is gradually becoming ineffective. Indeed, libel laws as well as the secrets acts are meant to protect the interests of the nation such as peace and tranquillity. It is the duty of the government to protect the nation while at the same time the press maintains that the public has the right to know (Dennis and DeFleur 1994). Therefore, an inherent conflict exists between the right to press freedom and the need to control the information disseminated by the media that can be damaging to the government. For instance, many countries have regulations that prohibit the broadcast of illicit content such as pornography as this would be damaging particularly to the young viewers who can be corrupted behaviourally. Different acts of parliament are in place in many countries which seek to regulate the operations of the broadcast industry so as to ensure that the amount of hate speech is checked as well as to ensure that the dissemination of certain information does not threaten the security of the country. In the same vein, licensing as well as regulatory bodies are in place to regulate the print media. Depending with the country, other governments actually require the editors to censor the content of their newspapers prior to publication so as to remove information which is deemed to be unfit for public consumption. In countries such China, Russia, Cuba and other countries in Latin America as well as developing African countries, there are statutory regulations that compel the mass media to abide by certain statutory regulations where censorship is given prominence in some instances. Whilst the notion of free press has dominated the media fraternity, it can be noted that such a right is not absolute in some of the above mentioned countries so as to contain the levels of civil unrest at lower levels. It must be noted that in America and other European countries, the media operate independent of the government where priority is given to press freedom as guaranteed by the first amendment of the constitution of America. The media is treated as a commercial industry devoid of strict regulations such as censorship. Noble as it may be to protect the interests of the nation, the notion of censorship is becoming a bit challenging to fully implement as a result of various factors. The advent of computer mediated communication (CMC) in particular has made censorship a bit difficult to enforce. According to Castells (1996), the process of the formation and diffusion of internet and related networks in the last quarter of the century shaped forever the structure of the new medium, in the architecture of the network, in the culture of communicators and in the patterns of communication. Thus, the architecture of the network is and will remain technologically open enabling widespread public access and seriously limiting governmental and commercial restrictions to such access. One major obstacle to curtail the flow of certain information by the government is the fact that the internet is not owned by anyone. It is just like a free good where anyone with access can post or browse any information in the comfort of their homes or offices without any hindrance. The internet network is the backbone of global computer-mediated communication since it links up most networks. According to a survey conducted in the United States in August 1995 by Nielsen Media Research, 24 million people were internet users and 36 million had access to it (Castells 1996). It was estimated that during the beginning of the new millennium, about 600 million people were active users of the internet where the existence of the World Wide Web (WWW) made it possible to link various networks. Currently, whilst the actual number of internet users may not be ascertained, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world’s population has access to the internet. The WWW is a flexible network of networks within the internet where institutions, businesses, associations and individuals create their own “sites” on the basis of which everyone with access can create his or her own homepage made of a collage of different text and images (Csastells 1996). Today, thousands and thousands of such networks exist around the globe and it covers the whole spectrum of human communication. More importantly, there is no one single entity with due influence to control the new dispensation of communication obtaining on the ground. Against this backdrop, it can be argued that censorship is gradually becoming ineffective due to the rise of internet use in different sectors of the society. Boist (1995) also concurs with the argument raised above. He also states that modern information communication technology (ICT) has made dramatic changes in the contemporary communication landscape. Consumers now have the ability to make evaluations on their choice of media products to consume owing to the improvements in communication technology. The owners of the mass media on the other hand are cognisant of these sweeping impacts caused by new technology which has led to significant changes in the way they carry out their business. The advent of the internet has brought about new features that make communication relatively easy and can reach a wide range of people located in diverse geographical areas. Thus according to Boist (1995), specially designed websites are used by various organisations to disseminate information to various consumers located in different geographical areas in the world. The main advantage of the internet is that it is accessible for 24 hours each day and is instantaneous. It also has advantages that it has a lot of consumer support information where they can directly communicate with the media practitioners. Due to internet use, it can be noted that many citizens are no longer relying on the hard copy sold on the street as their sole source of information from the print media. Both locally registered newspapers and other international ones are accessible online. It is also argued that online newspapers are gaining prominence and are slowly replacing hard copies. It used to be easier to censor hard copies since these could be withheld before being released for sale onto the streets in the event that they are deemed acrimonious to the state. For instance, the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, a Sub Saharan country located in the SADC region has been topical especially in online international media. Just like countries like Cuba, the above mentioned country has restrictive media laws which make it difficult for the independent media to be registered. However, to evade the restrictions, the media operators have established online editions of newspapers which are very popular and difficult to censor since they are based in countries such as UK and America. This is one good example which can illustrate that geographical boundaries no longer determine the amount of influence a government can have on the operations of media particularly when it comes to the aspect of censorship. It can also be noted that the notion of globalisation has also had a toll on the operations of the media. Basically, globalisation can be defined as Globalisation can be defined as the process where different countries across the globe join together in economic activities and can trade freely as a result of the removal of geographical boundaries (Rodrick 2001). This economic activity taking place across the national boundaries is a result of internationalisation of financial markets which aims to promote free trade as well as direct investment among different states across the world as well as promoting interconnectedness of human activities from different geographical areas. Indeed, the human activities are now interconnected where there is free exchange of culture. It can be noted that satellite broadcasting is also taking centre stage in promoting this new global dispensation.  The removal of geographical boundaries by new information and communication technology makes communication virtually easier and instantaneous. Statutory regulations used to apply to certain identified media operating within identified geographical boundaries. However, with new communication technology, there is no mortal human being who can stop the free flow of information from one part of the world into another. The world has become more like a global village where different people co-exist together regardless of long distances separating them. It used to be easy to censor especially broadcast media within geographical boundaries since they would be operating under specific regulations enacted by the government. In most cases, operating licenses are granted by the national government to broadcast locally and the government used to have a lot of influence over the content broadcast. Failure to comply to censorship regulations by the broadcaster would often result in the cancellation of the operating license which made it relatively easier for the government to impose these regulations. However, different broadcast media can beam in any type of content via satellite and this can be accessed by any person who has access to a satellite dish. This information cannot be censored. The advent of satellite broadcasting has also led to the emergence of reporters without borders where journalists can beam any kind of content to the parent organisations such as CNN, BBC or AFP which may not be favourable to the local governments in the host countries in which they would be operating from. These international news agencies can never be censored in any way by the governments of the countries in which their correspondents would be based. Over and above, it can be concluded that censorship laws are primarily put in place as a way of protecting the interests of the nation such as peace and security. However, a conflict exists where there is need to finely balance the need to protect the interests of the nation and the need for press freedom where the public has the right to know. The advent of new computer mediated communication and satellite broadcasting as explained above makes the practice of censorship in effective since it is very difficult to curtail the free flow of information. The internet in particular is not owned by anyone hence it is very difficult to control the content of information accessed on it. Bibliography Banham J. (1994). The anatomy of change. Blueprint for a new era. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Boist M.H. (1995). Information space: A framework for learning in organisations, institutions and culture. London and New York. Routledge. Castells M. (1996). The rise of the network Society. The information age: economy, society and culture. Volume 1. Oxford. Blackwell Publishers Limited. DeFleur M.L. & Denis E. E. (1994). Understanding Mass communication. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Company. James O. (1998). Britain on the couch. Why we are unhappier than we were in the 1950s despite being rich. London. Arrow Books Limited. Mulgan C.J. (1991). Communication and control: Networks and the new economies of communication. New York. Guildford Press. _The borderless world: Power and strategy in the interlinked economy. New York. Harper. Rodrick A. (2001), Take it Personally: How Globalisation affects you and powerful ways to challenge it , HarperCollins Publishers, UK. Read More