Comparison of the media systems between USA and China - Essay Example

Running Head: Comparison of the media systems between USA and China Comparison of the media systems between USA and China First Name of school Professor Date Abstract There are different types of media systems including newspaper, television, radio, and the Internet. These mediums play an important role in communicating information to the general public and changing perceptions of the audiences. Also, these types of media assist and change us in our day-to-day activities making information more accessible and convenient. Understanding these types of media is significant because it lets us understand how governments use them to conduct their daily activities. Keywords: media, newspaper, television, radio, Internet, access, information. . Comparison of the media systems between USA and China Overview Media is an overall term used to identify the different types of mediums that enriches us with vital information and knowledge (Sarah, 2011). It is a flow of information running throughout the society in a form of print, visual and audio mediums known as newspaper (newsletters, magazines and tabloids), television, radio and the Internet. These mediums play significant roles in communicating to the general public as an audience as well as changing their perception. Agencies in the advertising industry have seized the opportunity giving out repetitive messages of a place or brand that promises to improve people’s lives and make them better, suggesting cost saving plans, educating people about bank loans and investment opportunities, and suggesting cost effective medicines. In our everyday lives we witness how we rely on the different types of media to assist and change us in our day-to-day activities making information more accessible and convenient just at a click of a mouse or an arm stretch away. The newspaper, also known as print media differs slightly to magazines, newsletters and tabloids. However, these mediums mainly showcase news, entertainment or advertisement related information to audiences. Newspapers have been around since the time of Julius Caesar in the form of government bulletins kick starting journalism and later giving way to radio as a medium of communication. Radio was a huge turning point in how information was relayed to the general public. It was the first form of communication medium that could transmit voice over a long distance. People depended and still depend on source of news and information from the radio. In World War I radio was widely used to send messages when the Germans realized that the British had tapped its cables. Moreover, radio has made itself the medium that people seek to find information about what is happening around the world. However, the coming of the television and the Internet took the world by storm. Television has seen the transformation from black and white and color TV to flat plasma LCD TVs. This changing medium started in the 1930s for the purposes of news and entertainment, but currently advertising has taken a center stage with businesses fighting for advertising time. Also, the television has evolved into a Web TV where people could access the Internet instead of using a computer to browse for information and watching streaming videos. The internet has changed the way information is accessed. Among the different types of media, the Internet can be viewed as the greatest innovation that mankind has come up with. Communicating with other people locally, nationally or internationally has been made possible by the use of the Internet. Now people can have discussions on social media sites, send and receive instant messages using emails, having video conferencing with people in other countries, downloading research information from a fellow scientist in another continent, and participating in opinion polls among others. The Internet technology is now seen to be the future of communication and way of doing business. These mediums of communication as any other form of medium can be put to good use and also be misused depending on the intention of the person using it. With the introduction of faster means of media communication ethical media issues begin to blur especially concerning censorship of information passing through these medium systems of communication. Introduction The Chinese government has kept a tight leash on traditional and new advanced media systems to prevent challenges to its authority politically. This has been achieved by imposing strict media controls closing down publications or websites and imprisoning protesting bloggers and journalists. The Chinese government has media policy expressing freedom but they are worried that freedom of information may lead to the regime’s downfall, hence searching for more ways to exert control over freedom of press by including vague interpretation of the law concerning freedom of speech and the press (Bennett, 2013). These controls have led to issues such as rewriting of a front page pro-reform editorial by the government of a paper company called South Weekly (Bennett, 2013) resulting in confrontation. Other issues of censorship in China have resulted in Google battling the Chinese government over Internet censorship increasing international attention to media censorship. The rapidly developing economy of China will demand a lot of information and media coverage testing the control of the regime of Chinese leaders. In the United States, the media has freedom of press with admirable values of the society that preserve the basic doctrines upon which the society was constructed (Emmert, n.d). The United States Court determines the interpretation of the freedom of the press in the First Amendment. The courts gave power to the press to be able to censure the government on matters while at the same time the government has had a rejection of attempts to impose censorship on press. However, the United States just like China has had undertaken censorship on issues that are seen to undermine the regime of the United States. One issue materializing is the censoring of WikiLeaks website address in 2008 by the United States District Court rendering it inaccessible received criticism from the international community with claims of harassing individuals who are exercising their freedom of press rights. Another issue that has occurred is the censoring of religious content from social media sites especially those that highlight Christian views (Philbin, 2011). In both countries the underlying issue is encouraging freedom of press but at the same time trying to regulate how information is being presented by the press in order to preserve the national security of a country. In this paper emphasis would be laid on the differences of media systems between the United States and China by examining the different types of media systems including Internet, Newspaper and Broadcasting. These differences in types of media system would be discussed to further understand how China and the United States differ on media systems. Internet Censorship in China There are over 384 million users accessing the Internet in China with only a small portion of the online users having what it has to offer. The China’s government uses the Great Firewall (Buckley, 2010) to censor the Internet allowing denial of accesses or deleting of information that is considered objectionable by the government. The Great Firewall is operated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology by filtering sensitive words in information moving through networks. A logged in user searching for a banned word like Tiananmen Incident (Grammaticas, 2012), the software detects the word and breaks the connection by using reset commands so that the user is unable to access the information. The Chinese government is finding other ways of censoring the government. In 2010 the Chinese government ordered new computers in China to be installed with Green Dam censoring software made by the government, but was abandoned as a result of international protests. During the same year in December, MIIT demanded websites register true identities of its users with the claims of the government conducting a crackdown of pornography websites. This has led to innocent websites being blocked in pursuit of censorship. There are other cases of censorship of information on the Internet with the Chinese government. In one case the Chinese government took six days before addressing increasing rumors of the demise of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin on the Internet. In another case a Chinese newspaper, Southern Weekly (Murdoch, 2013) protested against censorship of its editorial by the government that called for political reform, was edited to amount praise on the Communist Party. Moreover, the Internet censorship gone beyond blocking YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook in order to prevent sensitive issues from being accesses including Tiananmen, torture, Taiwan, and Falun Gong. There have been other prominent cases of censorship like Google v. China (Ford, 2010). Google claimed in January 2011 that the Chinese government had attempted to steal the code to break into Gmail accounts of human rights activist which further highlights how far the Chinese government is willing to go to censor information communicated by online users. The response of the United States to China’s censorship of the Internet has been swift with U.S. President Barack Obama addressing students in Shanghai about Internet censorship telling them about the importance of information flow and how it strengthens their society by giving them the opportunity to hold their government accountable. This address by President Obama was censored from the live broadcast, which further explains how serious and significant information censorship is for the government. However, there were warnings during Hilary Clinton on the case of Google announcing its stopping of censoring its search engine in China. She called for investigation into Google’s claims and further letting China know that an attack on Google is like attacking the United States nation. Internet Censorship in United States In the United States there is freedom of speech and expression against the government with censorship embedded in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. These protections include the Internet with little government filtering of information. The United States between January and June 2011 was ranked 26th in terms of broadband speed of Internet connections with speeds averaging 4.93 Mbit/s (Kopytoff, 2011). However, Internet in the United States is considered extremely regulated by complicated legal mechanisms (Opennet, n.d). There have been debates on protecting children by policing the Internet of any illegal activities with main concern focusing on gambling and cyber security. Censorship in the United States is mainly focused on child pornography but with other sensitive information the content is removed rather than blocking an entire website with most content being censored at the voluntary or private levels. Although China is seen as the leader in Internet censorship, in the United States institutions are also censoring certain information. Verizon a telecommunication company in 2007 attempted to deny access to abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America from texting their supporters claiming they were communicating controversial messages. Still on censorship, in the National Religious Broadcasters in a study they conducted claim that social media sites are censoring religious content especially those that highlight Christian views (Philbin, 2011). Moreover, the United States military also prohibits accessing of particular IP addresses of certain people usually for reasons including national security. Similarities between China and the United States method of censorship of websites are several. The censoring of WikiLeaks website address in 2008 by the United States District Court resulting to its inaccessibility highlights the likeness of methods used by both countries in censoring sensitive government information from being accessed by the general public. Newspaper Censorship in United States Newspaper censorship has occurred in the United States in what the government is terming as protecting the national security of the country. The realization that America media practice self-censorship of newspapers like New York Time and The Washington Poston on issues such as the availability of assault weapons, mental health care, and America’s gun culture (Fenton, 2012) have not been received well by the general population. Most commentators and reporters are guarding their remarks because of the fear of having disruption in their lives. For instance the CNN British host Piers Morgan has had bloggers calling for his deportation as a result of bad mouthing guests on a debate concerning guns (Fenton, 2012). The self-censorship of issues by newspaper mainstream has seen concerns being raised about gun control and comparisons being made about the true effects of guns. The Guardian newspaper made reference of how outsiders view the gun problems in the United States by citing that having more guns result in more deaths as the case in the U.S. where there are 10,000 deaths from gun-related murders as compared to 41 in Britain (Fenton, 2012). Newspaper Censorship in China Newspaper censorship in China is similar as that in the United States. In China the South Weekly newspaper has seen its paper’s latest edition tampered with by the authorities (Bennett, 2013) and anti-censorship protestors being dispersed and a dozen of activists detained for sympathizing with the newspaper. This has been an effort to censor the press by propaganda authorities claiming that the newspaper was creating social chaos. Still on the same newspaper, workers went on strike in 2013 when there were accusations that the government replaced the contents of work to be published with another piece praising the government’s achievements. This strike at South Weekly has been viewed as a beacon of independent and in-depth reporting in a highly controlled media setting, has led to demands for new leadership to allow media freedom. In another incident, Beijing News staff refused to reprint a pro-government editorial in an effort to censor what was thought to be damaging information to the government (Hille, 2013). In addition, in that editorial journalists were warned not to publicly challenge the government. Therefore, newspaper censorship in China is an important priority for the government in order to maintain its regime and to squash any attempts to cause a major revolution. Broadcasting Censorship in China Television censorship in China is not that strict. Decisions on what get broadcast are taken by the programming directors but sometimes the propaganda ministry will sift through the programs and make changes (Hua, 2013). The China Central Television which is state broadcaster is usually monitored carefully, while regional stations do not have a lot of monitoring. Censorship on television focuses on the reporting of news, reporting on sports has a lot of freedom without censorship. In 2009, historical and revolutionary dramas, propaganda shows were to use Mandarin or face immediate ban, however in 2010 on China’s state television there have been surprises with the airing of V for Vendetta, an anti-authoritarian movie that encourages popular uprising against the government (The Guardian, 2012). The airing of this movie brought hope that China government was loosening its grip of censorship with further views that Xi Jinping was seriously thinking about reforms. The following year, 2011, Chinese sates administration banned all spy and police dramas for three months. In 2008, China banned foreign cartoons from being broadcasted leaving only Chinese cartoons in the domestic industry. Broadcasting Censorship in United States In 2001, the United Sates Bush administration blocked the American public from learning the destruction caused by the U.S. military on the Afghanistan population (White, 2001) by denying access to satellite pictures to broadcasting corporations. The main aim was to censor reporting of the war in Afghanistan. Another instance of censorship can be seen when Secretary of State Colin Powell before the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan tried to persuade the Emir of Qatar to shut down Al-Jazeera for the fear that it was encouraging anti-American sentiments (White, 2001). Analysis of the impact of the differences in media systems between USA and China The different types of media systems in the USA and China have revealed a great deal of information pertaining information censorship and the methods both governments are undertaking. When examining the Internet, in China censorship is taken seriously with the implementation of The Great Firewall to filter sensitive information moving through networks with the main aim of maintaining the Communist Party of China and avoid an uprising, while in the United States social media sites are censoring religious content especially those that highlight Christian views like the abolishment of gay marriages and abortion. In addition, the censoring of WikiLeaks website address in 2008 by the United States District Court highlights the extent the U.S. government takes censorship of information seriously. The main difference between China and the USA is that the USA focuses on specific cases to impose information censorship while in China all information on the Internet is censored. This is done to ensure that information on the Internet does not encourage an uprising against the government. The main lingering issue here is that governments of both countries are censoring information on the internet that may have an effect on their regimes. On newspaper censorship, in the United States much focus is laid on the mainstream media houses to practice self-censorship in order to prevent information that may damage credibility from being available to the general public. This has been seen in the case of the CNN British host Piers Morgan who had bloggers calling for his deportation as a result of bad mouthing guests on a debate concerning guns. Hence, much censorship is left for media houses to regulate before publishing in an effort to curb such things as child pornography, gambling and fraud. On the other hand, in China newspaper censorship is handled by the government and enforced by propaganda authorities by editing information before publication and threatening anti-censorship protestors. This has been seen where the China South Weekly newspaper edition was tampered with by the authorities and anti-censorship sympathizes being detained. Also, there is self-censorship by the newspaper media houses in China because of the fear of persecution of self-censorship is not practiced. The newspaper is seen as a threat to China national security by the political leaders because it can cause an uprising like the ones in Egypt, Syria and Libya to overthrow the government. The main difference between China and the USA is that China focuses on government propaganda authorities in handling censorship of newspaper information while in the United States media houses on their own practice self-censorship of information. The issue that persists between both countries is self-censorship by the newspaper media houses. Censoring what is broadcasted in China is not intense, although sometimes the propaganda ministry would sift through the programs to make changes. Usually the state station is monitored and spy, police and revolutionary dramas are not aired for the same reason that the government fears the general population revolting against its totalitarian rule. Locally made television content is rather encouraged simply to promote the Chinese people to produce TV dramas to boost the local economy. This is true because in 2008, China banned foreign cartoons from being broadcasted leaving only Chinese cartoons in the domestic industry. In the United States censorship is enforced on the particular situation like the blocking the public from learning about the destruction the United States military caused in Afghanistan population. However, broadcasting of TV drama, police, revolutionary, and cartoon series are not monitored for censorship. This is because the United States government on censors what it thinks is inappropriate for the public to know for the same reason that uprising and revolution may occur as a result of the knowledge that freedom of the press is not exercised. The main difference between China and the United States is that China focuses on monitoring everything that is shown on the television and censoring what it deems inappropriate for its citizens, while in the United States only a particular situation may warrant censorship if it is seen to pose a threat to national security or cause an uprising of the general population. The issue running through broadcast censorship between the two countries is censoring what is deemed to be damaging to the government. Conclusion The differences in media systems between the United States and China have revealed insights into the most censored type of media system in both countries although the methods of how censorship is undertaken differ. In both countries much emphasis is laid on censoring the content or information published on the Internet, newspaper, and television. Also, in both countries, the fear overthrow of the government using the different media types is prevalent especially in China where any information portraying the government in a negative way is rendered completely inaccessible. However, the main difference has been how censorship is conducted between the two countries. China using the Great Firewall is focused on going through all information communicated on all networks in China and denying access to material that is deemed inappropriate while in the United States only specific information is censored. To conclude, with the introduction of the Internet, governments should censor information concerning the encouragement to overthrow the government and pornography among others to protect the future of other upcoming generations. This censorship should not include illegally detaining people for the pretense of achieving political gains. Freedom of the press should be respected. References Bennett, I. (2013, January 24). 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