Freedom of expression and greater censuring

Freedom of expression, at times, happens to harm the feelings and sentiments of some people someway, and, therefore, censoring what is to be shown or printed in the media is becoming a greater need than it was in the yester-years.

·         What reasons do you attribute to this greater need for censorship?

·         Is this a good or bad development?

True Freedom of Express has always raised issues on injuring the sensibilities of others. Though this has been, today, the need for controlling this freedom is a little higher and, in my view, it is not an encouraging turn of event. 

When it comes to the heightened need for censoring these days, the first thing that strikes me is that media reaches all people regardless of their being rich or poor, educated or not, urban or rural or whatever. Naturally, there will be some people who may not like the free speech or expression of reporter, artist or video journalist.

Secondly, almost all human habitats across the world experience great population mix, and, when a media or press instrument publishes/airs something of political, religious or communal significance, let it be local or national or international, there are chances for some people to take a story or a visual as something offensive. Besides these, the contents of the media need greater controls because all age groups are able to access them indiscriminately.

Greater watch over free expression is not an encouraging idea in any free society. The thing is that controls would curtail free flow of thought and democratic expression of interests. For example, history has it that medias, scribes, writers and creative artists have been able to expose the ill-will of asocial forces and thereby materializing changes. If there are controls in greater measures, artists, critiques, intelligentsia and think tanks would get silenced in the name “sentiments and feelings of a few”. It will be bad indeed.

Winding it up, it may be said that the reasons for greater media controls might vary from places to place, and wherever it happens, in the long run, it will create wrong precedents and free expression as such will become a thing of the past. It will be sad.  

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Ajaypeesdoc. 2.2.15