Monthly Archives: October 2014

Censorship is suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. Rationale The rationale for censorship is different for various types of information censored: Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, which is illegal and censored in many jurisdictions in the world. Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential and away from the enemy. This is used to counter espionage, which is the process of gleaning military information. Very often, militaries will also attempt to suppress politically inconvenient information even if that information has no actual intelligence or combat-tactical value. Political censorship occurs when governments hold back information from their citizens. This is often done to exert control over the populace and prevent free expression that might foment rebellion. Religious censorship is the means by which any material considered objectionable by a certain faith is removed. This often involves a dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones. Alternatively, one religion may shun the works of another when they believe the content is not appropriate for their faith. Corporate censorship is the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to disrupt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light, or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure. Political Strict censorship existed in the Eastern Bloc. Throughout the bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers. Cultural products there reflected the propaganda needs of the state. Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years. In the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they had the temerity to suggest that the sun might not shine on May Day. Under Nicolae Ceauescu in Romania, weather reports were doctored so that the temperatures were not seen to rise above or fall below the levels which dictated that work must stop.

Independent journalism did not exist in the Soviet Union until Mikhail Gorbachev became its leader; all reporting was directed by the Communist Party or related organizations. Pravda, the predominant newspaper in the Soviet Union, had a monopoly. Foreign newspapers were available only if they were published by Communist Parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union.

Possession and use of copying machines was tightly controlled in order to hinder production and distribution of samizdat, illegal self-published books and magazines. Possession of even a single samizdat manuscript such as a book by Andrei Sinyavsky was a serious crime which might involve a visit from the KGB. Another outlet for works which did not find favor with the authorities was publishing abroad.

The People's Republic of China, which continues Communist rule in politics, if not in the controlled economy, employs some 30,000 'Internet police' to monitor the internet and popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

Iraq under Baathist Saddam Hussein had much the same techniques of press censorship as did Romania under Nicolae Ceauescu but with greater potential violence.

Critics of the Campaign finance reform in the United States claim that this reform imposes widespread restrictions on political speech.

During World War I letters written by British soldiers would have to go through censorship. This consisted of officers going through letters with a black marker and crossing out anything which might compromise operational secrecy before the letter was sent. The World War II catchphrase "Loose lips sink ships" was used as a common justification to exercise official wartime censorship and encourage individual restraint when sharing potentially sensitive information.

An example of "sanitization" policies comes from the USSR under Joseph Stalin, where publicly used photographs were often altered to remove people whom Stalin had condemned to execution. Though past photographs may have been remembered or kept, this deliberate and systematic alteration to all of history in the public mind is seen as one of the central themes of Stalinism and totalitarianism.

Censorship is occasionally carried out to aid authorities or to protect an individual, as with some kidnappings when attention and media coverage of the victim can sometimes be seen as unhelpful.

In the context of secondary school education, the way facts and history are presented greatly influences the interpretation of contemporary thought, opinion and socialization. One argument for censoring the type of information disseminated is based on the inappropriate quality of such material for the young. The use of the "inappropriate" distinction is in itself controversial, as it changed heavily. A Ballantine Books version of the book Fahrenheit 451 which is the version used by most school classes contained approximately 75 separate edits, omissions, and changes from the original Bradbury manuscript.

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Censorship in America: What is Censorship?

A young protester holds up a sign referring to censorship in schools in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, on Oct. 3. Photo by Rick Wilking/Reuters

A new production by the Metropolitan Opera in New York, The Death of Klinghoffer, tells the story of the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship and the murder of an American Jewish passenger by Palestinian terrorists an actual incident that took place in 1985.

The Met has garnered criticism from those who say the opera distorts history and romanticizes terrorism. ThePBS NewsHourrecently reportedon the controversy.

One of the issues raised is whether the protesters calls to cancel performances of the opera amount to censorship. If so, is such censorship justified?

Pleas for sensitivity increasingly are appearing in a variety of realms. Last spring, several colleges have grappled with student requests for trigger warnings, notes alerting students to potentially upsetting content, to be used on syllabi for humanities courses. Proponents argued the warnings were necessary to protect students who might have experienced past trauma, such as sexual assault, from having the experience unexpectedly evoked by course material. Others spoke out against the warnings on the grounds that they threatened intellectual and academic freedom.

Do trigger warnings constitute censorship? Is there a place for censorship if it is done out of respect or sensitivity? Can a work of art ever pose a legitimate threat, either to a persons ideology or their well-being?

PBS NewsHour will address the topic of censorship in a Twitter chat on Thursday, Oct. 23, from 1-2 p.m. EDT. Guests Deborah Caldwell-Stone (@OIF), deputy director for the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom, and Justin Peligri (@JustinPeligri), senior columnist for the George Washington University student paper, the GW Hatchet, will weigh in. Follow the conversation and share your opinion using #NewsHourChats.

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Twitter chat: Is censorship ever justified?

WASHINGTON Sen. Ron Wyden says the CIA is trying to blunt the impact of an upcoming Senate report examining the harsh treatment of Al Qaeda detainees by insisting on censoring the pseudonyms used for agency officers mentioned in the document.

The intelligence leadership are doing everything they can to bury the facts, said the Oregon Democrat, a Senate Intelligence Committee member who has been a frequent critic of the spy agency.

The Senate, the CIA and the White House are negotiating over what should be blacked out for national security reasons in the 600-page summary of the report that is set for public release sometime after the November elections.

President Barack Obama and other senior officials have said the CIAs use of waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation and other harsh techniques on some detainees constituted torture. Many current and former CIA officers dispute that.

The Senate report asserts that the harsh treatment didnt work and that CIA officials misled Congress and other government agencies about it. Also to be released is a CIA response, and a separate one by Senate Republicans, which challenge the reports conclusions.

CIA officials say they fear the publication of officer pseudonyms often just a first name such as Roger would lead to the unmasking of undercover officers. Readers could track the same person in different jobs and places, making it easier to discover their identity.

Without the pseudonyms, Wyden says, the report would be much harder to understand because readers wouldnt be able to distinguish different CIA officers. Readers wouldnt know, for example, whether same CIA official had been accused of lying multiple times.

Wyden pointed out that the 9/11 Commission Report and a 2004 report into abuses at Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison used pseudonyms for CIA officers.

I think it is appropriate to redact specific identifying information so the identities of undercover officers are not publicly exposed, Wyden told The Associated Press.

Wyden said the Senate report documents falsehoods, misdeeds and mistakes by the CIA.

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Wyden blasts CIA censorship