Censorship in the media has two beliefs among the audience. According to some people, censorship is good because it allows us to select the things that society should see but some people think that there should be no censorship because it takes away the right of freedom.
Media can make the audience wiser, fuller, surer, and sweeter than now. But media can also cloud the audience’s judgment and can also cause confusion and disillusion as well. We can see that from Churchill to Hitler and to the former Soviet Union, it is clear that the power of print media and electronic media can change and make history.
When we see that media is much free in the western countries but is not free in eastern countries, we feel that media’s freedom is a good thing and should be given throughout the world but as I thought about the issue of media’s freedom I realized that a lot of freedom which is given to the media in the west but this meant that stories are often told from many perspectives, with loads of biases, lies, and falsehoods thrown in them. So that’s why I am in favor and will always talk about communist media which while censoring many voices is at least dependable in getting a clear voice out. The media should not be that much free to show anything. Media should censor the things which may be irrelevant for the audience but in censoring things; it should not censor the real story but should put the real story and points in front of the audience to give a chance to the audience to make a clear judgment and to have a clear view about news or someone.
While searching in some books, I went throw the preface of Animal Farm by George Orwell who wrote that “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” The main part of the media is the journalists who are the backbone of the media. What to show on TV, what to broadcast on Radio and what to print on Newspaper. It all just depends on the journalists. So in this regard sometimes journalists are under pressure and go beyond the threat of job security and career blight and thus the journalists are being threatened by the government or other powers to show that content to the audience which can bring the audience in their favor.
What if we talk about censorship? Censorship in my opinion typically means that removal or blocking of some information, speech, or expressions from the real story that may harm the sense or brain of the audience. I will also say that it includes self- censorship in which one’s organization or company or government limits the media to show what they want and say. It is often seen that when a journalist comes out with a valid point and truth against any power or government, within some time he is being killed or being imprisoned for the whole life by that power or government by using illegal ways and by putting wrong allegations on him.
I will be proving my point that sometimes censorship is good and sometimes bad by talking through an analysis of freedom of media before 2000 and after 2000. We can see that before 2000 there were a few or can say that only one or two private channels in Pakistan. This was because of restrictions on media. We see that before 2000 mostly the things which were shown on media were in favor of the government of the time but as time passed and we entered the 21st Century things started to change. New private media groups started to come into being. This action of giving freedom to the media was done by the government in the sense that these groups can be used by them in the time when they are not in power or any other purpose. After that media got much freedom that it spread much awareness in the public through their certificate of censorship and un-censorship. They started to show the truth regarding the government and opposition both. Things that were censored by some media groups may be governmental which were not in there are now being uncensored just to bring awareness among the public.
How censorship is good? I will say that in censoring the terror attacks, chaos news, and other activities that may harm the minds of the public and may cause chaos among the society should be censored. According to NEWS and reports the numbers of causalities in the Wahga Border bomb blast in 2014 were around 60 but originally the live journalists who were there told that this number of 60 was shown after decrementing the causalities on media. Originally there were around 100 to 120 people killed in the blast. This number was censored just to reduce the terror in the public and it is a good type of censorship.
Media should have the element of censorship in it but just in the favor of the public, not in the favor of any power or government. Media should use the license of censorship; just to eradicate the harmful or terror material that is not in favor of the audience’s mind but it should not censor any type of truth regarding any power or government. It is the responsibility of the media to show the truth to the public so that they would able to select the best and raise their voice for the worst