Saturday, April 23, 2011
Reject Media Censorship
In some ways, we (the public, normal people) control the media. We do this by paying attention or ignoring what is displayed around us, from something as simple as an advertisement to what we watch on T.V. or read in a newspaper. In some ways, the people have an amazing amount of power in controlling what is being shown around us. In turn, the sneaky lil devil that it is, the media has power over us. The media determines what is popular and what isn't, it filters the flow of information from the highest elite sectors of the world down to everyone who owns a T.V. or computer, and it can even direct our interest towards something and away from something else.
When this nation was first created, the First Amendment was considered sacred. Over time, it began to lose some of its power. Several wars have come and gone and after each there have been changes to our constitution limiting what we are permitted to know. This is what I consider to be the first type of censorship - government required censorship.
The second type of censorship is personal self censorship. Almost every time I open my mouth, I censor what I am about to express. I say almost, because like many people, sometimes my words just run right out - skipping the censoring process altogether. Most of those times, it usually leaves me in trouble. I mention this because this type of censorship is not altogether bad. For people to maintain good relationships with each other, we censor what we say. It only becomes a problem when that censorship produces harm, either for yourself or for someone else.
The third type of censorship is media self censorship. A newspaper might come across several articles pertaining to world news that would have an impact on the way that we see the world but they squash it, or edit out important pieces of the story. They might do this because it provides negative information against their corporate interests, or on the government. They might toss it out simply because they feel that the general public would not be interested, and often this is true. We would much rather read about celebrity drama than corporate maleficence or government corruption. This is the deadliest of censors, because our inaction is part of the problem. I admit, after a long days work, hassles at home - all I want to do is have a cold beer and forget the world. I understand the desire to ignore what is going on around me because I already have too many depressing problems on my plate as it is, forget about adding the world's problems on top of that. Yet it is this neglect that leaves us very vulnerable to those few powerful people who run our country.
So, the big question is, how do we fix it? The process has already been started and academics tend to lead the war against censorship. For example, Project Censored is a website updated often to show news articles that never make it to the American public via our normal media coverage. Run by academics from Sonoma State University, this website is a great legitimate source of information collected from all over the world.
There are also a few documentaries out there that investigate how our media operates and why information is censored. Fear & Favor in the Newsroom goes into detail on biases that our media might have, which controls the type of information the public receives from those sources. Manufacturing Consent is a bit more complicated to describe but it covers "corporate media's role in modern propaganda". When you think about it, so much of what we see on television could easily be labeled as propaganda, pushing a hidden agenda that is not likely to be beneficial to the common US citizen.
The word is out there. It's up to you, the reader, to make use of these resources and find out what is really going on in the world. Otherwise, you give up your power, your ability to have a say in what information is reaching not only you but your family, friends - even strangers. Each and every one of us has the power to change the world, if we commit ourselves to it.
When this nation was first created, the First Amendment was considered sacred. Over time, it began to lose some of its power. Several wars have come and gone and after each there have been changes to our constitution limiting what we are permitted to know. This is what I consider to be the first type of censorship - government required censorship.
The second type of censorship is personal self censorship. Almost every time I open my mouth, I censor what I am about to express. I say almost, because like many people, sometimes my words just run right out - skipping the censoring process altogether. Most of those times, it usually leaves me in trouble. I mention this because this type of censorship is not altogether bad. For people to maintain good relationships with each other, we censor what we say. It only becomes a problem when that censorship produces harm, either for yourself or for someone else.
The third type of censorship is media self censorship. A newspaper might come across several articles pertaining to world news that would have an impact on the way that we see the world but they squash it, or edit out important pieces of the story. They might do this because it provides negative information against their corporate interests, or on the government. They might toss it out simply because they feel that the general public would not be interested, and often this is true. We would much rather read about celebrity drama than corporate maleficence or government corruption. This is the deadliest of censors, because our inaction is part of the problem. I admit, after a long days work, hassles at home - all I want to do is have a cold beer and forget the world. I understand the desire to ignore what is going on around me because I already have too many depressing problems on my plate as it is, forget about adding the world's problems on top of that. Yet it is this neglect that leaves us very vulnerable to those few powerful people who run our country.
So, the big question is, how do we fix it? The process has already been started and academics tend to lead the war against censorship. For example, Project Censored is a website updated often to show news articles that never make it to the American public via our normal media coverage. Run by academics from Sonoma State University, this website is a great legitimate source of information collected from all over the world.
There are also a few documentaries out there that investigate how our media operates and why information is censored. Fear & Favor in the Newsroom goes into detail on biases that our media might have, which controls the type of information the public receives from those sources. Manufacturing Consent is a bit more complicated to describe but it covers "corporate media's role in modern propaganda". When you think about it, so much of what we see on television could easily be labeled as propaganda, pushing a hidden agenda that is not likely to be beneficial to the common US citizen.
The word is out there. It's up to you, the reader, to make use of these resources and find out what is really going on in the world. Otherwise, you give up your power, your ability to have a say in what information is reaching not only you but your family, friends - even strangers. Each and every one of us has the power to change the world, if we commit ourselves to it.
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