isagree with. Corporations want to censor anything that makes them look bad or that could cost them profits. The government has at times censored facts just to cover up its mistakes or to avoid stirring up the public ire. Censorship, therefore, can be misused in addition to being wrongly classified.
The challenge of censorship is to strike a delicate balance between the good side of itùprotectionùand the bad sideùeither misuse of it that violates freedom of speech or neglect of it that provokes violence and other harmful effects. In a nation full of opinionated people with differing opinions, this is a steep challenge. However, censorship must be managed properly to ensure adequate protection on the one hand and adequate freedom on the other.
There are a multitude of censorship issues to be dealt with, since censorship can occur in relation to virtually any type of information, from religious to military, as well as in any format, from books to human speech. This paper will deal with three types of censorship that affect the public in different ways: military censorship, censorship of pornography and violence, and ideological censorship.
Military censorship is the type that can most readily be understood as protective. It refers to the censorship of information about the militaryÆs strategies, exact position, movements, strengths and weaknesses, and any other information that could serve to compromise the militaryÆs effectiveness and the security of the nation. Much of the militaryÆs effectiveness in war depends on the element of surprise, andùas the World War II slogan goesùôloose lips sink shipsö (ôLoose Lips Sink Shipsö). It is frustrating when the nation is at war to hear some Americans clamoring for more information about the specific details of military advancement, the plans for exactly when we will withdraw our troops from Iraq, and so forth. It is even more frustrating to hear the media interview ...