Media censorship should be banned internationally.

1) The media holds a great impact on society. Essentially media is a tool by which the opinions and views of people is molded [1]. This means that with censorship, as applied by a the state, can cause people to think in the point of view that the government wants them to think in.The spread of one idea is being stopped in order to allow for the spread of an ideal that the government supports. An excellent example of this can be seen in the recent events in Libya [2] as an alleged rape victim's story was smeared. This was another frugal attempt by the government to prevent outsiders from knowing the true state of affairs within Libya. Along with the fact that the government attempted to smear the woman's story is the idea that they could be doing this to dozens more. And if you prefer to look at a more democratic and modernized political system as a testament to the censorship. Throughout much of the reporting age of the Iraq war the real reason behind the American attacks of the Middle Eastern country were mustered and lies were debated and thrown over [3]. The government kept a firm hand on what was being said when it came to the topic of the war. And when several years later, Wikileaks revealed the true story behind the war the United States was very quick to cover everything up and attempted to silence Wikileaks. 2) A lack of media censorship is important in keeping transparency between the State and the People. If political leaders are aware that what they do might be documented , there would be a less corrupt government. Look at the example of how 24-hour news coverage affected the American government so much that they pulled themselves out of Somalia in the early 1990s. If media were to be used to convey the darker side of politics, politicians might be forced to make decisions that are more appealing to the American public. This matter can also be implemented in countries in which the government enacts even worse political changes. 3) Keeping information from the public can result in people becoming unaware of what occurs around them. If the government were to force all news channels to convey a certain message people might become aware of the many things aware around them. For example, if images with sexual-content were to be banned from the media it might be difficult for educators to educate children about what sex is and how to prevent STIs. Governments should not have control over what the people think or what they can do. It should be the other way around. 4) Another con of censorship is that it stifles progress in the creative arts and the introduction of new ideas. If censorships were to be enacted it cannot be guaranteed that new ideas will be available to the public. Not to mention the fact that with censorship entertainment will expired a new dullness due to lack of varied contents. 5) Another con of censorship, is even though it has a positive side, it is mostly used by governments in an improper manner. A dramatic example of media censorship can be seen in China and Libya. In China, media censorship is enacted in order to prevent people from being introduced to ideas that might interfere with political authority in China [4]. In Libya, media censorship is used to hide the countries various killings and the flaws in its justice system [5]. And the case is not only present in these countries it is present in several more [6]. Many of these countries enact all their censorship procedures by making all media state-owned. This in turn emphasizes that a large portion of media censorship that occurs in the world is politically based making other aspects of media censorship almost non-existent to a certain degree. ___________ 1-http://hubpages.com... 2-http://news.yahoo.com... 3-http://www.finalcall.com... 4-http://www.cfr.org... 5-http://europenews.dk... 6-http://www.cpj.org...