Censorship is the suppression ofspeech, public communication, or otherinformation. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".[1][2][3] Censorship can be conducted bygovernments[4] and private institutions.[5] When an individual such as an author or other creator engages in censorship of their own works or speech, it is referred to asself-censorship. General censorship occurs in a variety of different media, including speech, books, music, films, and other arts,the press, radio, television, and the Internet for a variety of claimed reasons includingnational security, to controlobscenity,pornography, andhate speech, to protect children or other vulnerable groups, to promote or restrict political or religious views, and to preventslander andlibel. Specific rules and regulations regarding censorship vary betweenlegal jurisdictions and/or private organizations.
Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especiallychild pornography, which is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world.[6][7]
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 fomentrebellion.
Religious censorship is the means by which any material considered objectionable by a certain religion 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 religion.
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,[8][9] or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.[10]
Censorship is often used to imposemoral values on society, as in the censorship of material consideredobscene. English novelistE. M. Forster was a staunch opponent of censoring material on the grounds that it was obscene or immoral, raising the issue of moral subjectivity and the constant changing of moral values. When the 1928 novelLady Chatterley's Lover wasput on trial in 1960, Forster wrote:[11]
Lady Chatterley's Lover is a literary work of importance...I do not think that it could be held obscene, but am in a difficulty here, for the reason that I have never been able to follow the legal definition of obscenity. The law tells me that obscenity may deprave and corrupt, but as far as I know, it offers no definition of depravity or corruption.
In a 1997 essay, social commentator Michael Landier explains that censorship is counterproductive as it prevents the censored topic from being discussed. He expands his argument by claiming that those who impose censorship must consider what they censor to be true, as individuals believing themselves to be correct would welcome the opportunity to disprove those with opposing views.[12]
Plato is said to have advocated censorship in his essay onThe Republic, which opposed the existence ofdemocracy. In contrast to Plato, Greek playwrightEuripides (480–406 BC) defended the true liberty offreeborn men, including the right to speak freely.[13]
Political censorship is the censorship ofpolitical opinions in violation offreedom of speech,freedom of the press orfreedom of assembly.Governments can attempt to conceal,fake, distort, orfalsify information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news that the public might receive through news outlets. In the absence of neutral and objective information, people will be prevented to dissent against the government orpolitical party in charge. The government can enforcemedia bias tospread the story that the ruling authorities want people to believe. At times this involvesbribery,defamation,imprisonment, and evenassassination. The term also extends to the systematic suppression of views that are contrary to those of the government in power.
During theAllied occupation of Japan after World World II, any criticism of the Allies' pre-war policies, the SCAP, the Far East Military Tribunal, the inquiries against the United States and every direct and indirect references to the role played by the Allied High Command in drafting Japan's new constitution or to censorship of publications, movies, newspapers and magazines was subject to massive censorship,purges,media blackout.[14] For the four years (1945–1949) theCCD was active, 200 million pieces of mail and 136 milliontelegrams were opened, and telephones were tapped 800,000 times. Since no criticism of the occupying forces for crimes such as thedropping of the atomic bomb, rape and robbery by U.S. soldiers was allowed, a strict check was carried out. Those who got caught were put on ablacklist called the watchlist, and the persons and the organizations to which they belonged were investigated in detail, which made it easier to dismiss or arrest them.[15]
From 1956 until 1974, theIrish republican political partySinn Féin was banned from participating inNorthern Irish elections.[17] From 1988 until 1994, the U.K. prevented media from broadcasting the voices (but not words) of Sinn Féin and ten Irish republican andUlster loyalist groups.[18]
According to India's Information Technology Rules 2011, objectionable content includes anything that "threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order".[19]
Iraq underBaathistSaddam Hussein had much the same techniques of press censorship, as did Romania under Ceauşescu, but with greater potential violence.[20]
Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code deems it illegal to "Insult thePresident of Turkey". A person who is sentenced for a violation of this article can be sentenced to a prison term between one and four years and if the violation was made in public the verdict can be elevated by a sixth.[21] Prosecutions often target critics of the government, independent journalists, and political cartoonists.[22] Between 2014 and 2019, 128,872 investigations were launched for this offense and prosecutors opened 27,717 criminal cases.[23]
A visitor insidePutin's Palace in Russia, who presumably censored their face to avoid legal retaliation for distributing the photo
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.[26]
In wartime, explicit censorship is carried out with the intent of preventing the release of information that might be useful to an enemy. Typically it involves keeping times or locations secret, or delaying the release of information (e.g., an operational objective) until it is of no possible use to enemy forces. The moral issues here are often seen as somewhat different, as the proponents of this form of censorship argue that the release of tactical information usually presents a greater risk of casualties among one's own forces and could possibly lead to loss of the overall conflict.[citation needed]
DuringWorld War I, letters sent by British soldiers back to the U.K. 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.[27] TheWorld 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.[28]
Socrates, while defying attempts by theAthenian state ofAncient Greece to censor his philosophical teachings, was brought charges that led to his death. The conviction is recorded byPlato: in 399 BC, Socrates went ontrial[31] and was subsequently found guilty of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and ofimpiety (asebeia,[32] "not believing in the gods of the state"),[33] and was sentenced to death.[34][35][36]
TheConstitution of India guarantees freedom of expression, but placescertain restrictions on content, with a view towards maintaining communal and religious harmony, given the history of communal tension in the nation.[37]
Under thePenang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, non-Muslims inMalaysia are penalized for speaking, writing, or publishing numerous words and phrases relevant to Islam, in any language or context, including:Allah,al Quran,fatwa,hadith,Haji,Kaaba,imam, andsheikh.[38][39][40]
Educational sources
An 1886 book by Russian authorN.I. Grech, which had some of its text censored and replaced with dots before publication
The way facts and history are presented in schools greatly influences students' interpretation of various subjects. One argument for censoring the type of information disseminated is based on the inappropriate quality of such material for the young people; what "inappropriate" means in this context is in itself controversial, as it has changed heavily. ABallantine Books version of the bookFahrenheit 451, which is the version used by most school classes,[41] contained approximately 75 separate edits, omissions, and changes from the author's originalmanuscript.
On the censorship of critical perspectives of U.S. history in American schools, a study published byIndiana University in 2024 found that "in 16 Republican-dominated states, policies have been enacted to restrict the teaching of critical perspectives on race, sexuality, and other controversial subjects and to perpetuate a positive view of U.S. history".[42] In 2019,Julia Carrie Wong wrote "today's reactionaries are picking up the mantle of generations of Americans who have fought to ensure that white children are taught a version of America's past that is morehagiographic than historic", with examples cited including Oregon enacting a law in the 1920s that banned the use of any textbook in schools that "speaks slightingly of the founders", toLynne Cheney, thechair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, launching a campaign in the 1990s against an effort to introduce new standards for teaching U.S. history which she found insufficiently "celebratory".[43]
Online access to all language versions ofWikipedia was blocked inTurkey on 29 April 2017 byErdoğan's government.[44]
Economic induced censorship is a type of censorship enacted by economic markets to favor, and disregard, types of information. Economic induced censorship is also caused by market forces which privatize and establishcommodification of certain information that is not accessible by the general public, primarily because of the cost associated with commodified information such as academic journals, industry reports and pay to use repositories.[45]
Amid declining car sales in 2020, France banned a television ad by a Dutch bike company, saying the ad "unfairly discredited the automobile industry".[47]
Self-censorship is the act of censoring orclassifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority. Self-censorship is often practiced byfilm producers,film directors,publishers,news anchors,journalists,musicians, and other kinds ofauthors, including individuals who usesocial media.[48]
According to aPew Research Center and theColumbia Journalism Review survey, "About one-quarter of the local and national journalists say they have purposely avoided newsworthy stories, while nearly as many acknowledge they have softened the tone of stories to benefit the interests of their news organizations. Fully four-in-ten (41%) admit they have engaged in either or both of these practices."[49]
Threats to media freedom have shown a significant increase in Europe in recent years, according to a study published in April 2017 by theCouncil of Europe.This results in a fear of physical or psychological violence, and the ultimate result is self-censorship by journalists.[50]
Copy, picture, and writer approval
Copy approval is the right to read and amend an article, usually an interview, before publication. Many publications[which?] refuse to give copy approval but it is increasingly becoming common practice when dealing with publicity anxious celebrities.[51] Picture approval is the right given to an individual to choose which photos will be published and which will not.Robert Redford is well known for insisting upon picture approval. Writer approval is when writers are chosen based on whether they will write flattering articles or not. American entertainment publicistPat Kingsley is known for banning certain writers who wrote undesirably about one of her clients from interviewing any of her other clients.[52]
Reverse censorship
Flooding the public, often through onlinesocial networks, with false or misleading information is sometimes called "reverse censorship". American legal scholarTim Wu has explained that this type of information control, sometimes bystate actors, can "distort or drown out disfavored speech through the creation and dissemination offake news, the payment of fake commentators, and the deployment of propagandarobots."[53]
Soft censorship or indirect censorship is the practice of influencing news coverage for example by applying financial pressure on media companies that are deemed critical of a government or its policies and rewarding media outlets and individual journalists who are seen as friendly to the government.[54]
Financial censorship is when financial institutions and payment intermediariesdebank accounts or inhibit transactions and influence what kind of speech can exist online.[55] Perceived examples of financial censorship include:
Book censorship can be enacted at the national or sub-national level, and can carry legal penalties for their infraction. Books may also be challenged at a local, community level. As a result, books can be removed from schools or libraries, although these bans do not typically extend outside of that area.
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers.[56] Cultural products there reflected the propaganda needs of the state.[56] Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years.[57]
In 1973,a military coup took power in Uruguay, and the new government practiced censorship. For example, writerEduardo Galeano was imprisoned and later was forced to flee. His bookOpen Veins of Latin America was banned by the right-wing military government, not only in Uruguay, but also in Chile and Argentina.[58]
Journalism
Independent journalism did not exist in theSoviet Union untilMikhail Gorbachev became its leader. Gorbachev adoptedglasnost (openness), political reform aimed at reducing censorship; before glasnost all reporting was directed by theCommunist Party or related organizations.Pravda, the predominant newspaper in the Soviet Union, had a monopoly. Foreign newspapers were available only if they were published bycommunist parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union.
In theEastern Bloc during theCold War, possession and use ofcopying machines was tightly controlled in order to hinder the production and distribution ofsamizdat, illegalself-published books and magazines. Possession of even a single samizdat manuscript such as a book byAndrei Sinyavsky was a serious crime which might involve a visit from theKGB. Another outlet for works which did not find favor with the authorities was publishing abroad.In the U.S., underFCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the FCC has the power to prohibit the transmission of indecent material ofobscene material over broadcast. Critics ofcampaign finance reform in the United States say this reform imposes widespread restrictions on political speech.[59][60]
Censored pre-press proof of two articles fromNotícias da Amadora, aPortuguese newspaper, 1970
According to Christian Mihr, executive director ofReporters Without Borders, "censorship in Serbia is neither direct nor transparent, but is easy to prove."[61] He writes that Serbian prime ministerAleksandar Vučić has proved "very sensitive to criticism, even on critical questions," as was the case with Natalija Miletic, a correspondent forDeutsche Welle Radio, who questioned him in Berlin about the media situation in Serbia and about allegations that some ministers in the Serbian government had plagiarized their diplomas, and who later received threats and offensive articles on the Serbian press.[61] Multiple news outlets have accused Vučić of anti-democratic strongman tendencies.[62][63][64][65][66] In July 2014, journalists associations were concerned about the freedom of the media in Serbia, in which Vučić came under criticism.[67][68] In September 2015, five members of U.S. Congress informed U.S. vice presidentJoseph Biden that Aleksandar's brother, Andrej Vučić, is leading a group responsible for deteriorating media freedom inSerbia.[69]
Although theRussian Constitution has an article expressly prohibitingcensorship,[70] the Russian censorship apparatusRoskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only use information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks.[71] In March 2022, Russian presidentVladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducingprison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet.[72][73] In March 2022,Novaya Gazeta suspended its print activities after receiving a second warning fromRoskomnadzor.[74] As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[75] Russian opposition politicianIlya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing theBucha massacre in Ukraine on aYouTube stream.
Aside from the usual justifications of pornography and obscenity, some films are censored due to changing racial attitudes orpolitical correctness in order to avoidethnic stereotyping and/or ethnic offense, despite its historical or artistic value. One example is the still withdrawn "Censored Eleven" series of animated cartoons, which may have been innocent then, but are "incorrect" now.[76]
Film censorship is carried out by various countries by censoring the producer or restricting a state citizen. For example, in China, the film industry censorsLGBT-related films. Filmmakers must resort to finding funds from international investors, such as theFord Foundation, and or produce through an independent film company.[77]
In Singapore, the Films Act originally banned the making, distribution and exhibition of "party political films", with punishment being a fine or imprisonment.[78] It defines a "party political film" as any film or video
(a) which is an advertisement made by or on behalf of any political party in Singapore or any body whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore, or any branch of such party or body; or
(b) which is made by any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore
In 2001, the short documentary calledA Vision of Persistence, on opposition politicianJ. B. Jeyaretnam, was banned under this law. The makers of the documentary, all lecturers at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, submitted written apologies, and withdrew the documentary from the 2001Singapore International Film Festival.[79] Another short documentary calledSingapore Rebel byMartyn See, which documentedSingapore Democratic Party leader DrChee Soon Juan's acts of civil disobedience, was banned from the 2005Singapore International Film Festival.[80] This law, is often disregarded when such political films are made supporting the rulingPeople's Action Party (PAP).Channel NewsAsia's documentary series on PAP ministers in 2005, for example, was not considered a party political film.[81] Exceptions are also made for political films about other nations, such asMichael Moore's 2004 documentaryFahrenheit 911 about the U.S.[82] In 2009, the law was amended to allow party political films as long as they were deemed factual and objective by a consultative committee.[83]
Censorship of maps is often employed for military purposes. For example, the technique was used in formerEast Germany, especially concerning the areas near the border withWest Germany, in order to makedefection attempts more difficult. Censorship of maps is also applied byGoogle Maps, where certain areas are grayed or blacked out or are purposely left outdated with old imagery.[85]
An example of art censorship was the Nazis' requirements of using art as propaganda. Art was only allowed to be used as a political instrument to control people and failure to act in accordance with the censors was punishable by law, even fatal. TheDegenerate Art Exhibition was a historical instance of this, the goal of which was to advertise Nazi values and slander others.[86]
Destroying or oppressing art is often seen as justifying its meaning even more.[87]
Moath al-Alwi is a prisoners at theGuantanamo Bay detention camp who createsmodel ships as an expression of art. Alwi does so with the few tools he has at his disposal such as dental floss and shampoo bottles, and he is also allowed to use a small pair of scissors with rounded edges.[88] For some time, a few of Alwi's pieces, and some artworks of other Guantanamo prisoners, were on display atJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York; by 2011, the military introduced a policy that disallowed artwork to leave the detention center. The artwork created by the prisoners became government property, which can be destroyed or disposed of in whatever way the government chooses.[89]
From 1980 to 1993, Israel banned artworks composed of the four colors of thePalestinian flag[a]
A 1980 Israeli law forbade bannedartwork composed of the four colors of thePalestinian flag,[90] and Palestinians were arrested for displaying such artwork or even for carrying slicedmelons with the same pattern.[91][92][93]
Around 300 artists in Cuba are fighting for their artistic freedom due to new censorship rules Cuba's government has in place for artists. In December 2018, following the introduction of new rules that would ban music performances and artwork not authorized by the state,performance artistTania Bruguera was detained upon arriving to Havana and released after four days.[94]
Photography
An example of "sanitization" policies comes from theSoviet Union underJoseph Stalin, where publicly used photographswere 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 ofStalinism andtotalitarianism.[citation needed]
British photographer and visual artistGraham Ovenden's photos and paintings were ordered to be destroyed by a London's magistrate court in 2015 for being "indecent"[95] and their copies had been removed from the onlineTate Gallery.[96]
"Obscenity" in Canada, as defined in the landmark criminal case ofR v Butler), is censored, which is generally limited topornography andchild pornography depicting sexual violence, degradation, or dehumanization, in particular that which causes harm (as inR v Labaye).[98]
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information onthe Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of the government or on their own initiative. Individuals and organizations may engage inself-censorship on their own or due to intimidation and fear.
The issues associated with Internet censorship are similar to those for offline censorship of more traditional media. One difference is that national borders are more permeable online: residents of a country that bans certain information can find it onwebsiteshosted outside the country. Thus, censors must work to prevent access to information even though they lack physical or legal control over the websites themselves. This in turn requires the use of technical censorship methods that are unique to the Internet, such as site blocking and content filtering.[99]
Furthermore, theDomain Name System (DNS) a critical component of the Internet is dominated by centralized and few entities. The most widely usedDNS root is administered by theInternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).[105][106] As an administrator they have rights to shut down and seizedomain names when they deem necessary to do so and at most times the direction is from governments. This has been the case withWikileaks shutdowns[107] and name seizure events such as the ones executed by theNational Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) managed by theHomeland Security Investigations (HSI).[108] This makes it easy for internet censorship by authorities as they have control over what should or should not be on the Internet. Some activists and researchers[who?] have started opting foralternative DNS roots, though the Internet Architecture Board[109] (IAB) does not support these DNS root providers.
Due to the underlyingdistributed technology of the Internet, total censorship of information online is very difficult or impossible to achieve, unless the censor has total control over all Internet-connected computers, such as inNorth Korea orCuba.Pseudonymity anddata havens (such asFreenet) protectfree speech using technologies that guarantee material cannot be removed and prevents the identification of authors. Technologically savvy users can often find ways toaccess blocked content. Nevertheless, blocking remains an effective means of limiting access to sensitive information for most users when censors, such as those in China, are able to devote significant resources to building and maintaining a comprehensive censorship system.[99]
In Cuba, connection to the Internet is restricted and censored.[113]
Views about the feasibility and effectiveness of Internet censorship have evolved in parallel with the development of the Internet and censorship technologies:
In November 2007, "Father of the Internet"Vint Cerf stated that he sees government control of the Internet failing because theWeb is almost entirely privately owned.[115]
A report of research conducted in 2007 and published in 2009 by theBerkman Klein Center for Internet & Society atHarvard University stated that: "We are confident that the [censorship circumvention] tool developers will for the most part keep ahead of the governments' blocking efforts", but also that "...we believe that less than two percent of all filtered Internet users use circumvention tools".[116]
In contrast, a 2011 report by researchers at theOxford Internet Institute published byUNESCO concludes "... the control of information on the Internet and Web is certainly feasible, and technological advances do not therefore guarantee greater freedom of speech."[99]
ABBC World Service poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users,[117] was conducted between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010. The head of the polling organization felt, overall, that the poll showed that:
Despite worries about privacy and fraud, people around the world see access to the internet as their fundamental right. They think the web is a force for good, and most don't want governments to regulate it.[118]
The poll found that nearly four in five (78%) Internet users felt that the Internet had brought them greater freedom, that most Internet users (53%) felt that "the internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere", and almost four in five Internet users and non-users around the world felt that access to the Internet was a fundamental right (50% strongly agreed, 29% somewhat agreed, 9% somewhat disagreed, 6% strongly disagreed, and 6% gave no opinion).[119]
Social media
The rising use of social media in many nations[which?] has led to the emergence of citizens organizing protests through social media, sometimes called "Twitter Revolutions". The most notable of these social media-led protests were theArab Spring uprisings, starting in 2010. In response to the use of social media in these protests, the Tunisian government began a hack of Tunisian citizens' Facebook accounts, and reports arose of accounts being deleted.[120]
Automated systems can be used to censorsocial media posts, and therefore limit what citizens can say online. This most notably occurs inChina, where social media posts are automatically censored depending on content. In 2013, Harvard political science professorGary King led a study to determine what caused social media posts to be censored and found that posts mentioning the government were not more or less likely to be deleted if they were supportive or critical of the government. Posts mentioning collective action were more likely to be deleted than those that had not mentioned collective action.[121] Currently, social media censorship appears primarily as a way to restrict Internet users' ability to organize protests. For the Chinese government, seeing citizens unhappy with local governance is beneficial as state and national leaders can replace unpopular officials. King and his researchers were able to predict when certain officials would be removed based on the number of unfavorable social media posts.[122]
Research has proved that criticism is tolerable on social media sites, therefore it is not censored unless it has a higher chance of collective action. It is not important whether the criticism is supportive or unsupportive of the states' leaders, the main priority of censoring certain social media posts is to make sure that no big actions are being made due to something that was said on the internet. Posts that challenge the Party's political leading role in the Chinese government are more likely to be censored due to the challenges it poses to the Chinese Communist Party.[123]
On the platformTikTok, certain hashtags have been categorized by the platform's code and determines how viewers can or cannot interact with the content or hashtag specifically. Someshadowbanned tags include: #acab, #GayArab, #gej due to their referencing of certain social movements andLGBTQ identity. As TikTok guidelines are becoming more localized around the world, some experts believe[who?] that this could result in more censorship than before.[124]
Weather reports
In the Stalinist Eastern Bloc, the weather forecasts were changed if they suggested that the sun might not shine onMay Day.[57] UnderNicolae Ceauşescu inRomania, 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.[57]
Since the early 1980s, advocates of video games have emphasized their use as anexpressive medium, arguing for their protection under the laws governingfreedom of speech and also as an educational tool. Detractors argue that video games are harmful and therefore should besubject to legislative oversight and restrictions. Many video games have certain elements removed or edited due toregional rating standards.[125][126] For example, in the Japanese andPAL Versions ofNo More Heroes, blood splatter and gore is removed from the gameplay. Decapitation scenes are implied, but not shown. Scenes of missing body parts after having been cut off, are replaced with the same scene, but showing the body parts fully intact.[127]
Surveillance and censorship are different. Surveillance can be performed without censorship, but it is harder to engage in censorship without some form of surveillance.[128] Even when surveillance does not lead directly to censorship, the widespread knowledge or belief that a person, their computer, or their use of the Internet is under surveillance can have a "chilling effect" and lead to self-censorship.[129]
Implementation
The former Soviet Union maintained a particularly extensive program of state-imposed censorship. The main organ for official censorship in the Soviet Union was theChief Agency for Protection of Military and State Secrets generally known as theGlavlit, its Russian acronym.[130] TheGlavlit handled censorship matters arising from domestic writings of just about any kind – even beer andvodka labels.Glavlit censorship personnel were present in every large Sovietpublishing house or newspaper; the agency employed 70,000 censors to review information before it was disseminated by publishing houses, editorial offices, and broadcasting studios. Nomass medium escapedGlavlit's control. All press agencies and radio and television stations hadGlavlit representatives on their editorial staffs.[131]
Sometimes, public knowledge of the existence of a specific document is subtly suppressed, a situation resembling censorship. The authorities taking such action will justify it by declaring the work to be "subversive" or "inconvenient". An example isMichel Foucault's 1978 textSexual Morality and the Law (later republished asThe Danger of Child Sexuality), originally published asLa loi de la pudeur [literally, "the law of decency"]. This work defends the decriminalization ofstatutory rape and theabolition of age-of-consent laws.[citation needed]
When a publisher comes under pressure to suppress a book, but has already entered into a contract with the author, they will sometimes effectively censor the book by deliberately ordering a small print run and making minimal, if any, attempts to publicize it. This practice became known in the early 2000s asprivishing (private publishing).[132] anOpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications:[133]
Cuban media used to be operated under the supervision of theCommunist Party'sDepartment of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".[134]
In the U.S., theParental Advisory warning is displayed onrecord label-published music releases considered unsuitable for children. This system was decided by theRecording Industry Association of America in 1985, as a concession to deter any Congressional law censoring songs with violent, sexual, oranti-Christian lyrics. Such a law had been advocated for by activists striving for "family values" in American culture, but was considered by many musicians to beunconstitutional under theFirst Amendment—likeFrank Zappa andJohn Denver, who testified to that effect to Congress.[135][136][137] A similar concession was made by the U.S. video game industry in the 1990s, resulting from similar moral criticism; they created theEntertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which determines content age warnings for game packages in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.[138][139][140]
Adult content warnings for mass media in the United States
^David Goldberg; Stefaan G. Verhulst; Tony Prosser (1998).Regulating the Changing Media: A Comparative Study. Oxford University Press. p. 207.ISBN978-0-19-826781-2.
^Eko, Lyombe (2019). "The Charlie Hebdo Affair in Turkey: Balancing Human Rights and Religious Rites".The Charlie Hebdo Affair and Comparative Journalistic Cultures: Human Rights Versus Religious Rites. Springer International Publishing. p. 208.ISBN978-3-030-18079-9.
^Tan, Kenneth Paul (2016-04-02). "Choosing What to Remember in Neoliberal Singapore: The Singapore Story, State Censorship and State-Sponsored Nostalgia".Asian Studies Review.40 (2):231–249.doi:10.1080/10357823.2016.1158779.ISSN1035-7823.S2CID147095200.
^Freedberg, David (2016). "The Fear of Art: How Censorship Becomes Iconoclasm".Social Research.83:67–99.doi:10.1353/sor.2016.0019.S2CID147789598 – via eHOST.
^Ashley, John; Jayousi, Nedal (December 2013)."The Connection between Palestinian Culture and the Conflict"(PDF). Discourse, Culture, and Education in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.Netanya Academic College (Report). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Israel Office. p. 55. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 10 February 2019. Retrieved21 May 2017.In 1980, Israel banned art exhibitions and paintings of "political significance", with the grouping of the four colours of the Palestinian flag in any one painting also forbidden.
^OpenNet Initiative"Summarized global Internet filtering data spreadsheet", 8 November 2011 and"Country Profiles", the OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa
^"Internet Enemies",Enemies of the Internet 2014: Entities at the heart of censorship and surveillance, Reporters Without Borders (Paris), 11 March 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^Due to legal concerns theOpenNet Initiative does not check for filtering ofchild pornography and because their classifications focus on technical filtering, they do not include other types of censorship.
^Shao, Li (1 November 2018). "The Dilemma of Criticism: Disentangling the Determinants of Media Censorship in China".Journal of East Asian Studies.18 (3):279–297.doi:10.1017/jea.2018.19.S2CID158396167.
^abOpenNet Initiative"Summarized global Internet filtering data spreadsheet", 29 October 2012 and"Country Profiles", the OpenNet Initiative is a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group, Ottawa
Crampton, R.J. (1997),Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century and After, Routledge,ISBN978-0-415-16422-1
Major, Patrick; Mitter, Rana (2004), "East is East and West is West?", in Major, Patrick (ed.),Across the Blocs: Exploring Comparative Cold War Cultural and Social History, Taylor & Francis, Inc.,ISBN978-0-7146-8464-2
Biltereyst, Daniel, ed.Silencing Cinema. Palgrave/Macmillan, 2013.* Birmingham, Kevin,The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses, London (Head of Zeus Ltd), 2014,ISBN978-1594203367
Demm, Eberhard.Censorship and Propaganda in World War I: A Comprehensive History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)online review
Foucault, Michel, edited by Lawrence D. Kritzman.Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977–1984 (New York/London: 1988, Routledge,ISBN0415900824) (The textSexual Morality and the Law is Chapter 16 of the book).
Mathiesen, KayCensorship and Access to Information Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, Kenneth E. Himma, Herman T. Tavani, eds., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2008
National Coalition against Censorship (NCAC). "Books on Trial: A Survey of Recent Cases." January 1985.
Silber, Radomír.Partisan Media and Modern Censorship: Media Influence On Czech Political Partisanship and the Media's Creation of Limits to Public Opposition and Control of Exercising Power in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. First edition. Brno: Tribun EU, 2017. 86 stran. Librix.eu.ISBN978-8026311744.
Silber, Radomír. (2018) On Modern Censorship in Public Service Broadcasting.Cultural and Religious Studies, Volume 3, 2018,ISSN2328-2177.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.m.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
