Censorship is defined as “a suppression of speech or other communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.” In the U.S., censorship is currently being regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC defines and regulates censorship through the “Children’s Television Act Of 1990,” which was enacted by Congress on October 18, 1990, and the Television Violence Act, which became law on December 1, 1990. One of the main arguments against censorship is the First Amendment and freedom of speech.
Censorship brings a big problem to this. In the Robert Greenwald film, Outfoxed, former Fox News journalists and employees state that they were forced to push a “right-wing” point of view or risk their jobs. This is an example of how the truth or what people want to say can be censored. This is dangerous because this is how “fake news” is made and rumors are spread. It is not always about the dirty words, the violence, or the nudity that we fear will end up on TV being viewed by kids; it is the censorship of the truth that is now causing problems. Getting rid of television censorship would stabilize our society as long as we populate the media with issues, debates, and controversy over free speech within other mediums. This will allow truthful conversations to start happening, which will hopefully bring change. There will always be a need to worry about censorship within television for children’s sake. All U.S. citizens need to rethink the meaning behind television censorship and start shifting over to more of a global conscience in order to move to a richer method of communication. For a free society to function, it is important for different political perspectives to be tolerated. This is not happening in current news TV. No one has any right to intimidate another into silence through the use of threat or force.
An environment in which people can be criminalized for expressing their point of view will only serve to promote bitterness and resentment. Yet, money remains one of the most motivating factors to do something you don’t want to. So, if your job is at stake, you are going to say whatever the producers tell you to say, even if it is not true. It is extremely problematic for anyone to be given the authority to determine which opinions are to be deemed acceptable or not. Yet, in the name of political correctness, this is a phenomenon that can easily be observed all over the world today. Governments are showing an increasing trend of shutting down discourse that they believe may be subjectively offensive to certain people. However, while doing this, other people’s freedom of speech is being threatened. This remains a controversial topic with good arguments from both sides.
