The advancement of technology has given rise to a new form of media, one that allows the common user around the globe to make his or her views heard. However, just like its predecessor, the Old Media, there has been attempts to censor the new media.
Firstly, before we go any further, there is the question: is it even possible to censor the new media, considering that the new media is made up of millions common users like me and you. The answer is obviously: YES! Here's and article on some of the most censored countries in the world http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/05/top-3-countries-that-heavily-censor-the-internet/
Back to the debate on censorship, there has been debates on whether censorship is really needed. For the debate lets assume their are two camps:The pro censorship camp and the anti censorship camp.Lets look at the least of their arguments.
Pro Censorship camp:
The argument made by the Pro censorship camp is Humans need some form of control without which, we will start abusing our unlimited power and start offending pratically almost everyone. Another argument for censorship is that censorship prevent extremists from easily spreading their message of hate throughout the country and inciting violence and unrest, which can potentially destabilize the country. Famous examples of people or organization who are pro censorship is the Singapore Government and the People's Republic of China's (PRC)government.(Read article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_crab_(Internet_slang))
Anti Censorship camp:
The Anti censorship side, on the other hand , argue that freedom of expression is a right which every human being should have when they are born and that any supression of freedom is a violation of human rights.Or that information should be shared freely there should be no secrets and no censorships in attempt to keep secrets.Some examples of people or organization that supports this view is Julian Assange(think wikileaks) and Human Rights Watch.
Why would anyone want censor the new media?
There's are many answers to this question. Some want to censor the new media as they are afraid that their dirty secrets might be aired online by some unknown netizens while others do it for more positive reasons, like trying to prevent some immature people from posting something offensive that has the potential to spark a riot. Like the old media, censorship in the new media can be a double edged sword: it can help society or just supress it.
Conclusion:
Truth is, the new media has given the power to almost every normal citizen. However, some people do not match this new found power with a high level of maturity and start posting hate messages and all kinds of offensive stuff online.Therefore I personally feel that there should be some form of censorship around ,even for new media, to contain extremist views from spreading ,especially in such an age where you can teach people how to make a bomb on the internet. However, if not done carefully, it can turn a country into a North Korea. What are your personal views on censorship and what justifications you have that support your view? Feel free to post and comment your opinion.
Sources:
Wikipedia.com
The Straits Times(Newspaper)
Please correct me if I made any mistake in this posting
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about net neutrality?
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel about other countries censorship and new media? - Rui Yong
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing to censor anymore in New media except for television and radio. There is no censorship online. Yes it is true that everyone has the right to say what they want online. But what if those people wrote hurtful, vulgar and racist comments. There should limitations like if "If you write anything discriminating, your comment (or what you wrote) will be removed.
ReplyDeleteYes, do comment on the article you linked to - do you think it's right that the countries try to censor info?
ReplyDeleteAnother question to look at would be how successful are they in censoring sites? Is it really possible for complete ban/censorship?
You have a clear overall structure for your presentation, and you provide useful general overview of the issue. It would help if you could provide more specific examples and case studies, eg racist bloggers, etc. More in-depth analysis of this interesting topic would help us come to better grips with the issue.
Do share your research with us - you have given a couple here - do share more.
Yes to censorship. I have a 5year old cousin who can use the internet so obviously some thigns are not meant for his eyes. MDA did a pretty good job.
ReplyDeleteHowever, countries like North Korea, China and UAE might as well be run by little kids considering how little criticism they can take. Their people are also basically mindless zombies who just go with the flow and stand up for their rights. Its like a in a school where when someone stands up to bully who is hated by everyone, nobody backs them up.
Censorship I say is a must to certain sites E.G pornography, sites involving a lot killing etc.
ReplyDeleteAll these sites is feeding young minds of our nation or in fact all around the world with all these bad stuff. It's pretty scary to see in our country that kids as young as 11 or 12 years old involving in bad company... Literally bad.
I feel that censorship is definitely needed. Though it may not be accepted but it is definitely something that is good.
ReplyDeleteNot wrong to say that we humans have expression rights too, but sometimes, people just do not know how to control what they want to say and thats when awful messages are seen all over the net.
it is important to block out some stuff on the internet but I feel that it is not possible to block off every single negative thing that you see.
Censorship is needed as it may corrupt one young's minds. Kids are young and not as wise as adult so watching pornography at such young age will really cause them into big trouble when they are older. But some how to a certain extend, you can't block everything as it is part of growing up.
ReplyDelete@Jazzper:What you mean by net neutrality.please elaborate
ReplyDelete@ adeeb ashraf:There are other reasons for censorship other than critcism. Take China for example, its a large country with over 1.3 billion people and within the population there are many ethnic groups and many ideals.Ending the censorship in China will probably spawn chaos and might plunge it into civil war(although not likely) similar to what happened in the early 20th century
Censorship is really important when new media is the new thang! As i've seen kids at around 6-10 years old already having an Iphone, i told myself and god, its not fair.
ReplyDeleteImagine a 6 years old boy start to scold vulgarities that he learnt in the net.. Whats the world becoming into. And yes i've heard 6 years old kids verbally abusing their friends.
Jingyuan
@mediascapes whether it possible to have complete censorship depends on the country.It is almost impossible in Iran as there is a sizeable amount of young people there who are tech savvy and will find ways to smuggle out information(note:2009 Iranian presidential campaign protest).For North Korea there is a history of harsh censorship and repression there, and with the correct amount of propoganda, a complete censorship is possible
ReplyDeleteThere has to be censorship. Each country wants the best for its people. Internet has info, some of them false info which could create misunderstandings. North korea for example has to censor everything. why? because if the ppl there were able to get hold of the info on the outside world, then confirm those info will make them think and thus doubt their leader.ahah. plus like jingyuan said, there are kids getting whole of the internet in sg and we need to keep them away from sites that they're not suppose to be visiting if you know what i mean. MDA is doing a good job with the censorship over the years. -rozaidi
ReplyDeleteI agree with having censorship. Censorship is so important that without it, inappropriate message might be sent to everyone in the world through new media. And it is understandable that once it is done, it is very hard to salvage the situation.
ReplyDeleteCensorship should take place in inappropriate commercials, tv programs, and etc. Scenes like killing and animal abuse shld be censored off unless it is for educational purposes.
From Yan Peng
I think that New Media should implement censorship at an appropriate level. If censorship level is too weak, there will be excessive leaking of private political data and there will be flaming all over the places. But if the censorship level is too strong, there are "evil" governments out there taking advantage to commit more "evil" things.
ReplyDelete