The plastercast ofDavid at theVictoria and Albert Museum has a detachable plasterfig leaf which is displayed nearby. Legend claims that the fig leaf was created in response toQueen Victoria's shock upon first viewing the statue's nudity and was hung on the figure prior to royal visits, using two strategically placed hooks.[1]
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".[2][3][4] Censorship can be conducted bygovernments[5] and private institutions.[6] 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.
Socrates, while defying attempts by the Athenian state to censor his philosophical teachings, was brought charges that led to his death. The conviction is recorded by Plato: in 399 BC, Socrates went ontrial[8] and was subsequently found guilty of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and ofimpiety (asebeia,[9] "not believing in the gods of the state"),[10] and was sentenced tohemlock.[11][12][13]
Censorship has been criticized throughout history for being unfair and hindering progress.[citation needed] In a 1997 essay on Internet censorship, social commentator Michael Landier explains that censorship is counterproductive as it prevents the censored topic from being discussed. Landier 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.[15]
Censorship is often used to impose moral values on society, as in the censorship of material considered obscene. 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:[16]
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.
Proponents have sought to justify it using different rationales for various types of information censored:
Moral censorship is the removal of materials that areobscene 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.[17][18]
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,[19][20] or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.[21]
Political censorship exists when agovernment attempts 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 unable to dissent with the government orpolitical party in charge. The term also extends to the systematic suppression of views that are contrary to those of the government in power. The government often possesses the power of thearmy and thesecret police, to enforce thecompliance of journalists with the will of the authorities tospread the story that the ruling authorities want people to believe. At times this involvesbribery,defamation,imprisonment, and evenassassination.
State secrets and prevention of attention
The daily newspaper ofWrocław,Polish People's Republic, March 20–21, 1981, with censor intervention on first and last pages – under the headlines "Co się zdarzyło w Bydgoszczy?" (What happened in Bydgoszcz?) and "Pogotowie strajkowe w całym kraju" (Country-wide strike alert). The censor had removed a section regarding the strike alert; hence the workers in the printing house blanked out an official propaganda section. The right-hand page also includes a hand-written confirmation of that decision by the localSolidarity trade union.
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 written by British soldiers 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.[22] 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.[23]
An example of "sanitization" policies comes from theUSSR underJoseph Stalin, where publicly used photographs were 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]
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.[24]
HistoricRussian censorship. BookNotes of my life byN.I. Grech, published in St. Petersburg 1886 by A.S. Suvorin. The censored text was replaced by dots.
In the context of secondary school education, the way facts and history are presented greatly influences the interpretation of contemporary thought, opinion and socialization. One argument for censoring the type of information disseminated is based on the inappropriate quality of such material for the younger public. The use of the "inappropriate" distinction is in itself controversial, as it changed heavily. A Ballantine Books version of the bookFahrenheit 451 which is the version used by most school classes[27] contained approximately 75 separate edits, omissions, and changes from the original Bradbury manuscript.
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 establish commodification 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.[29]
AuthorOzzie Zehnerself-censored the American edition of his environmental book,Green Illusions,[31] fearingfood libel laws.A person inPutin's Palace has had their face and reflection obscured presumably to prevent retaliation for distributing such photos.
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.[32]
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."[33]
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.[34]
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.[35] 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. Hollywood publicist Pat Kingsley is known for banning certain writers who wrote undesirably about one of her clients from interviewing any of her other clients.[36]
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."[37]
Soft censorship orindirect censorship is the practice of influencing news coverage 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.[38]
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.
Aside from the usual justifications of pornography andobscenity, 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.[39]
Film censorship is carried out by various countries. Film censorship is achieved 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 the "Ford Foundations" and or produce through an independent film company.[40]
Music censorship has been implemented by states, religions, educational systems, families, retailers and lobbying groups – and in most cases they violate international conventions of human rights.[41]
Censorship of maps is often employed for military purposes. For example, the technique was used in formerEast Germany, especially for the areas near the border toWest Germany in order to make attempts of defection more difficult. Censorship of maps is also applied byGoogle Maps, where certain areas are grayed out or blacked or areas are purposely left outdated with old imagery.[42]
Art
Art is loved and feared because of its evocative power. Destroying or oppressing art can potentially justify its meaning even more.[43]
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"[44] and their copies had been removed from the onlineTate gallery.[45]
Artworks using these four colors were banned by Israeli law in the 1980s. This ban ended in 1993.
A 1980 Israeli law forbade bannedartwork composed of the four colours of thePalestinian flag,[46] and Palestinians were arrested for displaying such artwork or even for carrying sliced melons with the same pattern.[47][48][49]
Cuban artist Tania Bruguera
Moath al-Alwi is a Guantanamo Bay prisoner 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.[50] A few of Alwi's pieces are on display at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. There are also other artworks on display at the College that were created by other inmates. The artwork that is being displayed might be the only way for some of the inmates to communicate with the outside. Though recently, things have changed. The military has come up with a new policy that will not allow the artwork at Guantanamo Bay Military Prison to leave the prison. The artwork created by Alwi and other prisoners is now government property and can be destroyed or disposed of in whatever way the government choose, making it no longer the artist's property.[51]
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.[52]
The Degenerate Art Exhibition
An example of extreme state 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.[53]
Internet censorship is 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 on websites hosted 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.[59]
Furthermore, theDomain Name System (DNS) a critical component of the Internet is dominated by centralized and few entities. The most widely used DNS root is administered by theInternet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).[60][61] 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[62] and name seizure events such as the ones executed by theNational Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) managed by theHomeland Security Investigations (HSI).[63] 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[64] (IAB) does not support these DNS root providers.
Unless the censor has total control over all Internet-connected computers, such as inNorth Korea orCuba, total censorship of information is very difficult or impossible to achieve due to the underlying distributed technology of the Internet.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 inChina, are able to devote significant resources to building and maintaining a comprehensive censorship system.[59]
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 the Web is almost entirely privately owned.[66]
A report of research conducted in 2007 and published in 2009 by the Beckman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard 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".[67]
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."[59]
ABBC World Service poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users,[68] 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.[69]
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).[70]
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.[71]
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.[72] 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.[73]
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.[74]
On the platform TikTok, certain hashtags have been categorized by the platform's code and determines how viewers can or cannot interact with the content or hashtag specifically. Some shadowbanned tags include: #acab, #GayArab, #gej due to their referencing of certain social movements and LGBTQ identity. As TikTok guidelines are becoming more localized around the world, some experts believe[who?] that this could result in more censorship than before.[75]
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 areharmful and therefore should besubject to legislative oversight and restrictions. Many video games have certain elements removed or edited due toregional rating standards.[76][77]For example, in the Japanese and PAL 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.[78]
Surveillance and censorship are different. Surveillance can be performed without censorship, but it is harder to engage in censorship without some form of surveillance.[79] 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.[80]
Implementation
Censored pre-press proof of two articles fromNotícias da Amadora, aPortuguese newspaper, 1970
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. TheGlavlit handled censorship matters arising from domestic writings of just about any kind – even beer and vodka labels.Glavlit censorship personnel were present in every large Soviet publishing house or newspaper; the agency employed 70,000 censors to review information before it was disseminated by publishing houses, editorial offices, and broadcasting studios. No mass medium escapedGlavlit's control. All press agencies and radio and television stations hadGlavlit representatives on their editorial staffs.[81]
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).[82] anOpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications:[83]
Censorship for individual countries is measured by Freedom House (FH)Freedom of the Press report,[84]Reporters Without Borders (RWB)Press freedom index[85] andV-Dem government censorship effort index. Censorship aspects are measured by Freedom on the Net[54] andOpenNet Initiative (ONI) classifications.[83]Censorship by country collects information on censorship,internet censorship,press freedom,freedom of speech, andhuman rights by country and presents it in a sortable table, together with links to articles with more information. In addition to countries, the table includes information on former countries, disputed countries, political sub-units within countries, and regional organizations.
Cuban media used to be operated under the supervision of theCommunist Party'sDepartment of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".[89] Connection to the Internet is restricted and censored.[90]
Strict censorship existed in the Eastern Bloc.[94] Throughout the bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers.[95] Cultural products there reflected the propaganda needs of the state.[95] Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years.[96] In the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they suggested that the sun might not shine onMay Day.[96] 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.[96]
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.
Amid declining car sales in 2020, France banned a television ad by a Dutch bike company, saying the ad "unfairly discredited the automobile industry".[97]
TheConstitution of India guaranteesfreedom 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.[98] According to the 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".[99] Notably many pornographic websites are blocked in India.[specify]
Iraq underBaathistSaddam Hussein had much the same techniques of press censorship as did Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu but with greater potential violence.[100]
During theGHQ occupation of Japan after WW2, 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.[101]
In the four years (September 1945–November 1949) since theCCD was active, 200 million pieces of mail and 136 million telegrams were opened, and telephones were tapped 800,000 times. Since no criticism of the occupying forces for crimes such as the dropping of the atomic bomb, rape and robbery by US soldiers was allowed, a strict check was carried out. Those who got caught were put on a blacklist 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 the "disturbing molecule".[102]
Under subsection 48(3) and (4) of thePenang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, non-Muslims inMalaysia are penalized for using the following words, or to write or publish them, in any form, version or translation in any language or for use in any publicity material in any medium:"Allah", "Firman Allah", "Ulama", "Hadith", "Ibadah", "Kaabah", "Qadhi'", "Illahi", "Wahyu", "Mubaligh", "Syariah", "Qiblat", "Haji", "Mufti", "Rasul", "Iman", "Dakwah", "Wali", "Fatwa", "Imam", "Nabi", "Sheikh", "Khutbah", "Tabligh", "Akhirat", "Azan", "Al Quran", "As Sunnah", "Auliya'", "Karamah", "False Moon God", "Syahadah", "Baitullah", "Musolla", "Zakat Fitrah", "Hajjah", "Taqwa" and "Soleh".[103][104][105]
Russian opposition politicianIlya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for discussing theBucha massacre in Ukraine on aYouTube stream.
On 4 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.[106][107] Although the1993 Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibitingcensorship,[108] the Russian censorship apparatusRoskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only use information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks.[109] As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[110]
Novaya Gazeta's editor-in-chiefDmitry Muratov was awarded the2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression". In March 2022,Novaya Gazeta suspended its print activities after receiving a second warning fromRoskomnadzor.[111]
According to Christian Mihr, executive director ofReporters Without Borders, "censorship in Serbia is neither direct nor transparent, but is easy to prove."[112] According to Mihr there are numerous examples of censorship and self-censorship in Serbia[112] According to Mihr, 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.[112]
Multiple news outlets have accused Vučić of anti-democratic strongman tendencies.[113][114][115][116][117] In July 2014, journalists associations were concerned about the freedom of the media in Serbia, in which Vučić came under criticism.[118][119]
In September 2015 five members of United States Congress (Edie Bernice Johnson, Carlos Curbelo, Scott Perry, Adam Kinzinger, andZoe Lofgren) have informed Vice President of the United StatesJoseph Biden that Aleksandar's brother, Andrej Vučić, is leading a group responsible for deteriorating media freedom inSerbia.[120]
In theRepublic of Singapore, Section 33 of the Films Act originally banned the making, distribution and exhibition of "party political films", at the pain of a fine not exceeding $100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.[121] The Act further 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 also banned for being a "party political film". The makers of the documentary, all lecturers at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, later submitted written apologies and withdrew the documentary from being screened at the 2001Singapore International Film Festival in April, having been told they could be charged in court.[122] 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 on the same grounds and See is being investigated for possible violations of the Films Act.[123]
This law, however, is often disregarded when such political films are made supporting the rulingPeople's Action Party (PAP).Channel NewsAsia's five-part documentary series on Singapore's PAP ministers in 2005, for example, was not considered a party political film.[124]
Exceptions are also made when political films are made concerning political parties of other nations. Films such asMichael Moore's 2004 documentaryFahrenheit 911 are thus allowed to screen regardless of the law.[125]
Since March 2009, the Films Act has been amended to allow party political films as long as they were deemed factual and objective by a consultative committee. Some months later, this committee lifted the ban on Singapore Rebel.[126]
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.
Online access to all language versions ofWikipedia was blocked inTurkey on 29 April 2017 byErdoğan's government.[127]
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.[128] Prosecutions often target critics of the government, independent journalists, and political cartoonists.[129] Between 2014 and 2019, 128,872 investigations were launched for this offense and prosecutors opened 27,717 criminal cases.[130]
From December 1956 until 1974 theIrish republican political partySinn Féin was banned from participating in elections by the Northern Ireland Government.[131] From 1988 until 1994 the British government prevented the UK media from broadcasting the voices (but not words) of Sinn Féin and ten Irish republican andUlster loyalist groups.[132]
In the United States, most forms of censorship are self-imposed rather than enforced by the government. The government does not routinely censor material, although state and local governments often restrict what is provided in libraries and public schools.[133] In addition, distribution, receipt, and transmission (but notmere private possession) ofobscene material may be prohibited by law. Furthermore, underFCC v. Pacifica Foundation, the FCC has the power to prohibit the transmission of indecent material over broadcast. Additionally, critics ofcampaign finance reform in the United States say this reform imposes widespread restrictions on political speech.[134][135]
In 1973, a military coup took power in Uruguay, and the State 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.[136]
^David Goldberg; Stefaan G. Verhulst; Tony Prosser (1998).Regulating the Changing Media: A Comparative Study. Oxford University Press. p. 207.ISBN978-0198267812.
^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
^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.
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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
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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.
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