Castillo, 1

Karina Castillo

Mrs. Angus

CP English 4

26 April 2017

Censorship in Broadcasting Media

But actually, he thought as he readjusted the Ministry of Plentys figures, it was not

even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for the other, (George

Orwell, 37). According to Merriam-Webster, censorship is the suppression of free speech,

public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful,

sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets,

authorities or other groups or institutions. Although censorship is advertised as a form of

protection, it really is a jail on raw facts and a preventative measure for the public to receive

less information. In George Orwells 1984, the government or Big Brother relies on

censorship to keep themselves in superiority to its peoples. By withholding the truth from its

citizens and altering what they already know, Big Brother assumes an all-powerful position

and no one can do anything about it. Decades after Orwell wrote this dystopian novel,

disturbing similarities between the 1984 universe and our own have become prevalent. Thus,

censorship in modern day society is juxtaposed to the events occurring within 1984.
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There are various definitions of censorship that can be found all over the world. To

some, censorship is a safe haven: a beep instead of a curse word, a black bar covering an

exposed body part. To others, censorship is a disgusting ideal of society created to promote

more traditional behaviors and attitudes. However, censorship in the media is neither of those.

When the media does not discuss a certain topic, they fail to fulfill their jobs as informers and

representatives of we the people. Evan Smith, who co-founded The Texas Tribune expressed,

Holding people accountable in public life is so fundamentally important that this idea that

somehow were going to stop doing that because were worried about what the governments

going to do to us, I so unbelievably reject that. In all the articles I read about the government

attempting to censor the media, the threat of that specific station losing their entire company

by the hands of ones who wish to silence them. These hardworking journalists and reporters

risk their careers and overall way of life when they bring forth subjects the government does

not want the public to be aware of. The sheer fact that someones entire life is on the line due

to government censorship is truly terrifying none the least.

When George Orwell wrote the novel 1984, did he expect the situations he predicted

to be so eerily similar to our current daily lives, decades later? In an article on Pencils.com it

is expressed, In the world of 1984, creative writing had the power to alter history and set a

course for the future. In our world, writing and imagery has the power to forge a connection

between people and history. If Anne Frank was not allowed to keep a diary, could we even

begin to understand the level of turmoil the Jews endured in Nazi Germany? As Pencils.com
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puts it, Censorship is a threat to this connection and to the art that will one day connect our

present with our future. Our current news media whether it be articles or live reports will

forever exist in our universe due to our ever-evolving technology. I believe that it is important

for us as a country to report and document real, true, and uncensored news/ events not only

for our people now, but for the future. Every single article of news produced today will

become a part of history as we know it. Therefore it is our responsibility to truthfully reflect

ourselves in the media.

Journalist Bill Moyers of BillMoyers.com reported that Trumps chief right-wing

White House strategist, Steve Bannon, stated in an interview, The media should be

embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile. Youre the

opposition party. Not the Democratic Party. The media is the opposition party. They dont

understand the country. However I disagree with this statement, the medias job is to

research and report for the public. The average American does not have the resources to

acquire knowledge of our governments current doings as media broadcasting groups do.

When our Founding Fathers instituted the First Amendment, they encouraged reporters to

bring social, political and economic justice to the people of their country. In a general sense,

the First Amendments purpose is to prevent the government from interfering with the

distribution of information and opinions. So, when the President of the United States and his

closest advisers encourage the censorship and silencing of the media, it is quite controversial.

In Trumps defense, yes, the media can get out of control. At the end of the day, a
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broadcasting station will present topics that are riveting and controversial because that will

bring in attention and in turn help them make more money.

People of higher power such as our President Donald Trump have insisted that the

media stop reporting so closely on certain individuals, i.e. himself. What Trump is

encouraging is the idea that even though misconduct and inappropriate behavior is occurring,

one should be excused from their actions by not being publicised in the media. Michael

Wolff of Newsweek explains, The media strategy is to show Trump to be an inept and craven

sociopath. The Trump strategy is to show that media people are hopeless prigs out of touch

with the nation

In the end, censorship will always be a societal issue. The pure ethics of deciding

whether or not to expose mass numbers of people to sensitive topics/ materials is complicated

by itself. Still, the question remains, has government censorship gone too far? Perhaps. Others

may ask, why is the government not censoring this? The whole debate over censorship will

forever be under fire just like most issues in our world today.
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Works Cited

Halbrooks, Glenn. "How Media Censorship Affects the News You See." The Balance. Web.

05 Apr. 2017. https://www.thebalance.com/how-media-censorship-affects-the-news-

you-see-2315162

Moyers, Bill."Revisiting Orwell's '1984' in Trump's America." BillMoyers.com. 30 Jan. 2017.

Web. 04 Apr. 2017. http://billmoyers.com/story/revisiting-orwells-1984-trumps-

america/

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. Print.

Rutenberg, Jim. "In Trump Era, Censorship May Start in the Newsroom." The New York

Times. The New York Times, 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/media/trump-era-media-

censorship.html?_r=0

Verrastro, Gina. "1984 and the Battle Against Censorship." Pencils.com. 12 Mar. 2013. Web.

04 Apr. 2017. https://pencils.com/1984-and-the-battle-against-censorship/

"What Is Censorship?" American Civil Liberties Union. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

https://www.aclu.org/other/what-censorship

Wolff, Michael. "Michael Wolff: Why the Media Keeps on Losing to Donald Trump."

Newsweek. 07 Feb. 2017. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. http://www.newsweek.com/donald-

trump-versus-media-548562