Media Censorship in the US - Essay Example

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