Governments and private organizations may engage in censorship. Other groups or institutions may propose and petition for censorship. Using the term to describe actions by private institutions and corporations is controversial, as the word implies government intervention. When an individual such as an author or other creator engages in censorship of their own works or speech, it is referred to as self-censorship.
It 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 including national security, to control obscenity, child pornography, and hate speech, to protect children or other vulnerable groups, to promote or restrict political or religious views, and to prevent slander and libel.
Nikolai Yezhov, the man strolling to Joseph Stalin's left, was executed in 1940. Because of Censorship in the Soviet Union the soviet censors edited him out of the photo. Such retouching occurred commonly during Stalin's rule.
Book burning in Chile following the 1973 coup that installed the Pinochet regime.
Direct censorship may or may not be legal, depending on the type,
location, and content. Many countries provide strong protections against
censorship by law, but none of these protections are absolute and
frequently a claim of necessity to balance conflicting rights is made,
in order to determine what could and could not be censored. There are no
laws against self-censorship.
History
Chinese troops destroyed the statue Goddess of Democracy in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and continue to censor information about those events. This statue, now known as the Victims of Communism Memorial, was recreated by Thomas Marsh in Washington, DC.
In 399 BC, Greek philosopher, Socrates, defied attempts by the Greek state to censor his philosophical teachings and was sentenced to death by drinking a poison, hemlock. Socrates' student, Plato, is said to have advocated censorship in his essay on The Republic,
which opposed the existence of democracy. In contrast to Plato, Greek
playwright Euripides (480–406 BC) defended the true liberty of freeborn
men, including the right to speak freely. In 1766, Sweden became the first country to abolish censorship by law.
Rationale
The rationale for censorship is different for various types of information censored:
- Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise considered morally questionable. Pornography, for example, is often censored under this rationale, especially child pornography, which is illegal and censored in most jurisdictions in the world.
- Military censorship is the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics confidential and away from the enemy. This is used to counter espionage.
- 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 foment rebellion.
- 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, or intervene to prevent alternate offers from reaching public exposure.
Types
Political
Cuba
Cuban media used to be operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies". Connection to the Internet is restricted and censored.
China
The People's Republic of China employs sophisticated censorship mechanisms, referred to as the Golden Shield Project, to monitor the internet. Popular search engines such as Baidu also remove politically sensitive search results.
Eastern Bloc
Strict censorship existed in the Eastern Bloc. Throughout the bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on their writers. Cultural products there reflected the propaganda needs of the state. Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years. In the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day. Under Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania,
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.
Possession and use of copying machines was tightly controlled in order to hinder production and distribution of samizdat, illegal self-published books and magazines. Possession of even a single samizdat manuscript such as a book by Andrei Sinyavsky was a serious crime which might involve a visit from the KGB. Another outlet for works which did not find favor with the authorities was publishing abroad.
Iraq
Iraq under Baathist Saddam Hussein had much the same techniques of press censorship as did Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu but with greater potential violence.
Serbia
According to Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders, "censorship in Serbia is neither direct nor transparent, but is easy to prove." According to Mihr there are numerous examples of censorship and self-censorship in Serbia According to Mihr, Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić
has proved "very sensitive to criticism, even on critical questions,"
as was the case with Natalija Miletic, correspondent for Deutsche 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.
Multiple news outlets have accused Vučić of anti-democratic strongman tendencies.
In July 2014, journalists associations were concerned about the freedom
of the media in Serbia, in which Vučić came under criticism.
In September 2015 five members of United States Congress (Edie
Bernice Johnson, Carlos Curbelo, Scott Perry, Adam Kinzinger, and Zoe
Lofgren) have informed Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden that Aleksandar's brother, Andrej Vučić, is leading a group responsible for deteriorating media freedom in Serbia.
Singapore
In the Republic of Singapore,
Section 33 of the Films Act originally banned the making, distribution
and exhibition of "party political films", at pain of a fine not
exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.
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 called A Vision of Persistence on opposition politician J. 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 2001 Singapore International Film Festival in April, having been told they could be charged in court. Another short documentary called Singapore Rebel by Martyn See, which documented Singapore Democratic Party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan's acts of civil disobedience, was banned from the 2005 Singapore International Film Festival on the same grounds and See is being investigated for possible violations of the Films Act.
This law, however, is often disregarded when such political films are made supporting the ruling People'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.
Exceptions are also made when political films are made concerning political parties of other nations. Films such as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 are thus allowed to screen regardless of the law.
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.
Soviet Union
Independent journalism did not exist in the Soviet Union until Mikhail Gorbachev became its leader; all reporting was directed by the Communist Party or related organizations. Pravda,
the predominant newspaper in the Soviet Union, had a monopoly. Foreign
newspapers were available only if they were published by Communist Parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union.
Turkey
Online access to all language versions of Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey on 29 April 2017 by Erdoğan's government.
United States
In the United States, censorship occurs through books, film festivals, politics, and public schools. Additionally, critics of campaign finance reform in the United States say this reform imposes widespread restrictions on political speech.
Uruguay
Censorship
also takes place in capitalist nations, such as Uruguay. In 1973, a
military coup took power in Uruguay, and the State practiced censorship.
For example, writer Eduardo Galeano was imprisoned and later was forced to flee. His book Open Veins of Latin America was banned by the right-wing military government, not only in Uruguay, but also in Chile and Argentina.
State secrets and prevention of attention
Wieczór Wrocławia – Daily newspaper of Wrocław, People's Republic of Poland, March 20–21, 1981, with censor intervention on first and last pages—under the headlines "Co zdarzyło się 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 local "Solidarność" 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 argues
that 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.
During World 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. The World 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.
An example of "sanitization" policies comes from the USSR under Joseph 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
of Stalinism and totalitarianism.
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.
Religion
Censorship by religion is a form of censorship where freedom of expression is controlled or limited using religious authority or on the basis of the teachings of the religion. This form of censorship has a long history and is practiced in many societies and by many religions. Examples include the Galileo affair, Edict of Compiègne, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (list of prohibited books) and the condemnation of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Images of the Islamic figure Muhammad are also regularly censored. In
some secular countries, this is sometimes done to prevent hurting
religious sentiments.
Educational sources
Historic Russian censorship. Book Notes of my life by N.I. Grech, published in St. Petersburg 1886 by A.S. Suvorin. The censored text was replaced by dots.
The content of school textbooks is often the issue of debate, since
their target audience is young people, and the term "whitewashing" is
the one commonly used to refer to removal of critical or conflicting
events. The reporting of military atrocities in history is extremely controversial, as in the case of The Holocaust (or Holocaust denial), Bombing of Dresden, the Nanking Massacre as found with Japanese history textbook controversies, the Armenian Genocide, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and the Winter Soldier Investigation of the Vietnam War.
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 young. The use of the
"inappropriate" distinction is in itself controversial, as it changed
heavily. A Ballantine Books version of the book Fahrenheit 451 which is the version used by most school classes contained approximately 75 separate edits, omissions, and changes from the original Bradbury manuscript.
In February 2006 a National Geographic cover was censored by the Nashravaran Journalistic Institute. The offending cover was about the subject of love and a picture of an embracing couple was hidden beneath a white sticker.
Self-censorship
Author Ozzie Zehner self-censored the American edition of his environmental book, Green Illusions, due to food libel laws that enable the food industry to sue researchers who criticize their products.
Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own blog, book, film, or other forms of media.
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 by film producers, film directors, publishers, news anchors, journalists, musicians, and other kinds of authors including individuals who use social media.
According to a Pew Research Center and the Columbia 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."
Threats to media freedom have shown a significant increase in
Europe in recent years, according to a study published in April 2017 by
the Council of Europe.
This results in a fear of physical or psychological violence, and the ultimate result is self-censorship by journalists.
Copy, picture, and writer approval
Copy
approval is the right to read and amend an article, usually an
interview, before publication. Many publications refuse to give copy
approval but it is increasingly becoming common practice when dealing
with publicity anxious celebrities. 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.
By media
Books
Nazi book burning in Berlin, May 1933.
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 extend outside of that
area.
Films
Aside from the usual justifications of pornography and obscenity, some films are censored due to changing racial attitudes or political correctness in order to avoid ethnic 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.
Film censorship is carried out by various countries to differing degrees. For example, only 34 foreign films a year are approved for official distribution in China's strictly controlled film market.
Music
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.
Maps
Censorship of maps is often employed for military purposes. For example, the technique was used in former East Germany, especially for the areas near the border to West Germany in order to make attempts of defection more difficult. Censorship of maps is also applied by Google Maps, where certain areas are grayed out or blacked or areas are purposely left outdated with old imagery.
Individual words
Under subsection 48(3) and (4) of the Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, non-Muslims in Malaysia
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".
Publishers of the Spanish reference dictionary Real Acádemia Española
received petitions to censor the entries "Jewishness", "Gypsiness",
"black work" and "weak sex", claiming that they are either offensive or
non-PC.
One elementary school's obscenity filter changed every reference
to the word "tit" to "breast," so when a child typed "U.S. Constitution"
into the school computer, it changed it to Consbreastution.
Art
British photographer and visual artist Graham Ovenden's photos and paintings were ordered to be destroyed by a London's magistrate court in 2015 for being "indecent" and their copies had been removed from the online Tate gallery.
Artworks using these four colors were banned by Israeli law in the 1980s
A 1980 Israeli law forbade banned artwork composed of the four colours of the Palestinian flag, and Palestinians were arrested for displaying such artwork or even for carrying sliced melons with the same pattern.
Internet
Internet censorship and surveillance by country (2018)
Internet censorship is control or suppression of the publishing or
accessing of information on the Internet. It may be carried out by
governments or by private organizations either at the behest of
government or on their own initiative. Individuals and organizations may
engage in self-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.
Unless the censor has total control over all Internet-connected computers, such as in North Korea or Cuba,
total censorship of information is very difficult or impossible to
achieve due to the underlying distributed technology of the Internet. Pseudonymity and data havens (such as Freenet) protect free speech
using technologies that guarantee material cannot be removed and
prevents the identification of authors. Technologically savvy users can
often find ways to access 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.
Views about the feasibility and effectiveness of Internet
censorship have evolved in parallel with the development of the Internet
and censorship technologies:
- A 1993 Time Magazine article quotes computer scientist John Gillmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."
- 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.
- 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".
- In contrast, a 2011 report by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute published by UNESCO concludes "... the control of information on the Internet and Web is certainly feasible, and technological advances do not therefore guarantee greater freedom of speech."
A BBC World Service poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users,
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.
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).
Social media
The
rising usages of social media in many nations 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 parts Arab 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.
Automated systems can be used to censor social media posts, and therefore limit what citizens can say online. This most notably occurs in China, where social media posts are automatically censored depending on content. In 2013, Harvard political science professor Gary 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.
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.
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 isn't 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.
This represents how different types of social media are censored based on what is appropriate to share with the public.
Video games
Since the early 1980s, advocates of video games have emphasized their use as an expressive medium, arguing for their protection under the laws governing freedom of speech and also as an educational tool. Detractors argue that video games are harmful and therefore should be subject to legislative oversight and restrictions. Many video games have certain elements removed or edited due to regional rating standards.
For example, in the Japanese and PAL Versions of No 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.
Surveillance as an aid
Surveillance and censorship are different. Surveillance can be
performed without censorship, but it is harder to engage in censorship
without some form of surveillance.
And 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 lead to self-censorship.
Protection of sources is no longer just a matter of journalistic
ethics; it increasingly also depends on the journalist's computer skills
and all journalists should equip themselves with a "digital survival
kit" if they are exchanging sensitive information online or storing it
on a computer or mobile phone.
And individuals associated with high-profile rights organizations,
dissident, protest, or reform groups are urged to take extra precautions
to protect their online identities.
Implementation
Censored pre-press proof of two articles from "Notícias da Amadora", a Portuguese 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 the Chief Agency for Protection of Military and State Secrets generally known as the Glavlit, its Russian acronym. The Glavlit 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 some 70,000 censors to review
information before it was disseminated by publishing houses, editorial
offices, and broadcasting studios. No mass medium escaped Glavlit's control. All press agencies and radio and television stations had Glavlit representatives on their editorial staffs.
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 is Michel Foucault's 1978 text Sexual Morality and the Law (later republished as The Danger of Child Sexuality), originally published as La loi de la pudeur [literally, "the law of decency"]. This work defends the decriminalization of statutory rape and the abolition of age of consent laws.
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 as privishing (private publishing).
Criticism
Artistic allegory of communist press censorship, 1989
Censorship has been criticized throughout history for being unfair
and hindering progress. In a 1997 essay on Internet censorship, social
commentator Michael Landier claims 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.
Censorship is often used to impose moral values on society, as in
the censorship of material considered obscene. English novelist E. 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 novel Lady Chatterley's Lover was put on trial in 1960, Forster wrote:
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.
By country
Censorship by country collects information on censorship, internet censorship, press freedom, freedom of speech, and human 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.
