Television Censorship Essay -- essays research papers

Television CensorshipWHAT IS CENSORSHIP?"Censorship is the supervision and control of the information and ideasthat are circulated among the people within a society. In modern times,censorship refers to the examination of books, periodicals, plays, films,television and radio programs, news reports, and other communication media forthe purpose of altering or suppressing parts thought to be obnoxious oroffensive. The objectionable material may be considered immoral or obscene,heretical or blasphemous, seditious or treasonable, or injurious to the nationalsecurity. Thus, the principle for censorship is that it is necessary for theprotection of three basic social institutions the family, the church, and thestate.Censorship and the ideology supporting it go back to ancient times. Everysociety has had customs, taboos, or laws by which speech, play, dress, religiousobservance, and conjure upual expression were modulate(Microsoft Encarta 95)."CENSORSHIP OF OBSCENITY"The begin ning of a new legal approach may be traced to the action of the federal courts in the 1930s, when they held that Irish author James JoycesUlysses was not obscene and could be freely passed through customs. The courtsruled that the use of "dirty words" in "a sincere and honest book" did not makethe book "dirty." Since the 1950s many obscenity cases involving books,magazines, and film have been brought before the Supreme Court. In the casesduring the seventies the court ruled that laws against obscenity must be limited "to works which, taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex whichportray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and which, taken as a whole,do not have earnest literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." TheCourt has further held that obscenity should be determined by applying"contemporary community standards" rather than national standards (MicrosoftEncarta 95)."WHO DOES TELEVISION CENSORSHIP inst all?CENSORSHIP AFFECTS MINORS AND ADULTS     Does censorship affect both minors and adults? One incident in Ohio leda mother of a 5 class old boy to believe so. The boys mother attributed hisactions to the influence of the popular MTV cartoon show Beavis and Butthead.In response to watching this cartoon the boy set his dwelling house on fir... ...censorship of television. The government of the United States ofAmerica has been getting very involved in what they think is appropriate to beon television. I want to slam why they get to decide what I want to watch. Ifeel that it should be a persons choice. They say they are concerned with whatchildren are viewing, or that many things such as nudity and swear words offendpeople. Parents should monitor what their children watch. If a parent does notwant their child to see something in particular, and then it is the parentsresponsibility to see that they do not, not the governments (Microsoft InternetExplorer)."      What do you think? Should our government continue to enforce televisionand film censorship as it has been? Or should all forms of censorship beabolished completely?THE PURPOSE     "It is the purpose of this Act to increase competition in alltelecommunications markets and provide for an orderly transition from regulatedmarkets to competitive and deregulated telecommunications markets consistentwith the public interest, convenience, and necessity (Telecommunications Bill of1995, Internet)."