--1- What information does China censor? And why?
China censors a variety of things. Most of the time it is negative things about the government, but it could also be about safety issues, killings, and some specific medical issues. China is very paranoid about the United Nations because they are concerned about Human Rights. If any information on the Central Propaganda Department's rules is released in anyway, then the government will attempt and most likely succeed in prosecuting the person. Posting about any type of Human Right violation will get the poster into a lot of trouble. A lot of the time the purpose of the censorship is to prevent panic, reduce protests, and try to not let other countries get involved. If a few people insult the government online nothing big happens, but if a larger group does that then the government will get involved. China doesn't just censor, but also they add things that make them look better. Sometimes they take over a website and change the content to the exact opposite. When there is a change within the government, monitoring increases and laws become more strict. On the contrary, during the Olympics, censorship and monitoring levels decrease due to all the tourists and all the publicity.
2- How is media controlled?
Media is controlled in various ways. The most common way is to completely remove or replace the information. The Great Firewall is what people call the firewall that prevents users from reaching certain sites. To find the sites that need censoring, they create algorithms to go through the internet looking for blacklisted words. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are required to cooperate with the government and sign the public pledge, which has been criticized by the United...
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...orried about China and it's censoring. Some businesses do not want to initiate deals because of the limited access of the internet. All the monitoring and censorship causes issues with business, trade, and the economy. A lot of countries are also concerned about the way people are treated in China. Some businesses don't want to rely on a country with Human Right violations. Another issue is that more trades and other activities that have to do with the economy are being done online, but with the Great Firewall the internet slows and it makes it harder to keep up. Random internet shutdowns slow down everything and can cause issues with communication. All these issues are costing China trading partners and financial advantages. China is just hurting itself with its monitoring and censorship, and it may cause problems in the future to the long lasting country of China.
But the new landscape of ideas and their control leaves many people queasy and uneasy about media, morality, and responsibility. If censorship is wrong and impossible, how then to address the issue of people and companies that use media irresponsibly?
Even if every household had a telephone and everyone had a computer, free speech could still be blocked. Because the Internet backbones in these countries are controlled by the Communist Parties, it is quite easy for them to block sites. As the Net's secret police put on more and more filters, Net-literate dissidents find more and more ways to work around them. But as all this goes on, it gets harder and harder for less Net-literate people to play the game.
The media censorship appears in various forms and in almost all countries; few have legal systems that guarantee absolute freedom of the media.
The authors of these passages have very different ideas about censorship. After evaluation I will determine which passage states a stronger argument. I believe that Passage 1 provides a stronger argument over Passage 2.
The government in china is very concerned with limiting the freedom of expression for it's citizens in all possible ways. Let's examine first the reason why censorship is such an important aspect for the Chinese government. According to the book “A Short History of China” by Gordon Kerr when the renaissance took place in Europe from the 14th through the 17th century it changed people's view in many different ways because it was “a period of exploration, discovery and advancement in almost every field”(Gordon Kerr 87); it was a rebirth of the ancient traditions. Mean...
Throughout the development of new nations within the last two centuries, there have been various issues raised and fought over regarding the ruling of the nations themselves and the nation’s peoples. These issues range anywhere from form of government; whether a nation should be a tyranny, monarchy, or a democracy; to how much freedom the nation’s citizens should have. By and large one of the most important topics in recent politics is the idea of media censorship, anywhere from the question of first amendment rights in the United States to the extremely dystopian society of North Korea, where incredibly censored and doctored information dominates social life - and anything positive is re-written to be caused by their ‘dear leader’, whoever the current monarch may be.
As of the year 2010, Google battle with the Chinese government over Internet censorship has drawn increased international attention to media system in the country. The conflict between Google and Chinese government is mainly because of the different media systems that serve in the United States and China. Basically, the media system consists of different types of communications media, such as television, Newspapers, Internet, books and other new media (Ipad, smartphones). Chinese media system differs from that of the United States is up to the very different regimes and social conditions that can be analyzed in four aspects: Ownership and national culture of media, laws and regulations, attitude towards foreign media.
The government controls the media and communication. The internet is not accessible to people due to the communist control. Most of the issues in the country do not come from lack of accessibility like some people groups in remote areas, but they come from the centralized controlling communist government.
Censorship has been used by governments and influential groups throughout history as a tool for political and economic gain since ancient times. The Romans thought censorship was necessary to shape the morals of society to match up with government ideals. During the 1500's the Catholic Church banned certain texts that conflicted with the established religion from being read. In these times the idea of censorship was viewed differently that it is today. With powerful organizations limiting information it was often impossible for an average person to obtain literature or hear ideas that vary from state ideals, they probably didn't even know that their information was being censored. We live in a different age today, information is more readily available and censorship is often looked at as a negative practice that limits freedoms. That said, it still exists today and can be viewed as an obstacle to true democracy.
Thornton, P., (ed.) (2010), ‘Censorship and Surveillance in Chinese Cyberspace: Beyond the Great Firewall’ In Gries, P. H., and Rosen, S., (eds) Chinese Politics (London and New York: Routledge).
Censorship according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press can be defined as, “To remove anything offensive from books, films, etc., or to remove parts considered unsuitable from private letters, especially ones sent during war or from a prison”(Cambridge Dictionary). Censorship in the news and in the media takes many forms in todays fast paced world. Even with the slightly leak in information or even misleading information could cause todays world to be turned on its head and can cause people to interpret the issue in many ways which could have numerous implications. This is why such information is filtered by some governments around the world before it is aired or printed. There are countless arguments as to why or why not information should be censored as each individual is entitled to their own opinion. Censorship impacts people ability to choose freely as it is controls ideas and thoughts and thus influences their freedom of expression or their to express their views on issues, ideologies or even practice their faith.
A good example of this is in China, where Google has been censored by a provider called The Great Firewall of China, which censors information that could be viewed as defamatory or insulting to Chinese government and culture. According to the article “Google turns off China censorship warning” as published by BBC News Technology, “Google has had a rocky relationship with the Chinese authorities since January 2010, when the company said it may shut down Chinese operations due to a ‘sophisticated and targeted’ cyber attack. Google said at the time that it was no longer willing to censor the Google search engine”. Many journalists have also taken a look at Egypt, which also utilizes censorship. According to “Egyptian authorities step up censorship” as published by the Committee to Protect Journalists website, the new military-run Egyptian government is censoring news outlets and keep journalists, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates.
Most of the Internet regulation is imposed by the Government in an effort to protect the best interest of the general public and is concerned with some form of censorship.
Censorship affects our society in many different ways, it affects the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the books we read, and many other aspects of our everyday lives. Even though many might argue that censorship doesn't really have a place in a society that emphases freedom of speech and the freedom to express oneself, but censorship is an essential and needed part of our growing society, it's needed in the television industry, the Internet, and the music industry. Censorship helps to make our world a better place because it creates a better environment for us to live in.
Interests: China’s leaders desire to improve their nation’s economy while preserving political stability. They want to censor political discussions to prevent “westernization” of China,