Censorship (Media Studies)

The act of prohibiting, discouraging, or condemning cultural practices that are considered inappropriate, dangerous, or obscene by one element of a culture. Censorship can be performed by any religious, political, social, governmental, commercial, or moral group regardless of its affiliations or political agenda. Through censorship, particular images, ideas, words, materials, acts, or information are suppressed (or suppression is attempted) with the intention of protecting citizens from their purported influence. The goal of [Page 67]censorship is the control of the free expression of ideas by labeling some types of information as subversive, profane, vulgar, or necessarily secret. Censorship is a common component of most cultures because there are always competing ideas about what constitutes appropriate behavior in every society. Even democracies are not immune to censorship efforts. The past several decades in the United States have seen the banning of books by libraries and schools, attacks on political and sexual art, attempts to outlaw offensive movies, prohibitions against vulgar speech, and attacks on music lyrics and music artists. Scientific information has also been censored by some government agencies through rewriting research reports, focusing attention away from scientific data, and removing dissenting scientists from government panels. Censorship can be enforced by laws, community values, personal example, education, economic pressure, or force and violence. Censorship can be a violation of the First Amendment right of freedom of speech, and it is often the conflict between free speech and controlled behavior that becomes the focus of many censorship controversies. Self-censorship is the practice of quieting one's own expression of ideas because of the fear of reprisals or punishments.