In today's society we are constantly being censored; for example, I can remember in middle school we weren't allowed to wear any clothes that contained certain words, phrases or messages. Whether it is a sorority telling us we cannot do or say certain things while wearing our letters, or editors cutting out parts of our speech and articles, censorship is still very prevalent. Sometimes censorship is warranted such as when people are using profane language, but sometimes the messages we are getting from the media as so censored that we are no longer able to decipher the true story. Real issues arise when the media is censoring information that is vital to the comprehension of the story.
Big media companies such as Fox, CNN, ABC and many more, are the primary censors of information. The corporate offices can decide whether or not to include certain information in reports. Typically this can be because they are concerned about losing funding if the offend someone or if they want more views. Another reason a big media company could be censoring out information is if it is a matter of national security. This is an example of governmental censorship that is beneficial to the public.
However, this is not only an issue here in the US; this is a matter of international concern. In countries like Hungary, China, and Russia, the government is redacting critical information from news stories. As a result there is a large portion of the world's population that is receiving false information. This is a huge issue because this could lead to an entire country that has been fed false information, enacting another world war over misinformation.
We, unfortunately, live in a world where some journalists are more concerned about progressing their own personal careers than they are about reporting accurate information to the public. This, unfortunately, is largely because of censorship, where big media companies are removing information that might offend monetary supporters of the company. Resulting from this is the violation of our freedom of speech. Included under our freedom of speech is the declaration that if a person knowingly says things that are false, he may be sued in court by the person or persons who believe they have been harmed by what he said. Why are big media companies not held to that some standard? Censorship does not violate this freedom when it is pertaining to profane and racial language, but why does it not violate this freedom when it is producing false information? In today's society people will believe just about anything on the news, but we need to ask ourselves "Is this the whole truth?"
