Censorship -- the control of the information and ideas circulated within a society.
When it comes to television, it is safe to say that almost every person on this planet has seen, heard of or owns a television. This device therefore moves from a state of entertainment to a mass communication device that has the potential to determine the way people think and live.Censorship came about with the intention of controlling what viewers could watch and limiting the amount of violence, sexual content and coarse language that viewers were subject too. The first television program to be censored, according to CNN, was the 1942 episode of Tweety Bird titled “A Tale of Two Kitties” by animator Bob Clampett, in which Tweety was drawn without feathers but the censorship bureau deemed this inappropriate.
These days, many viewers are against the censorship of public broadcasting as they feel they have the right to choose what they do and do not want to watch, while those in government believe that the censorship has become too relaxed and express the opinion to rethink the censorship laws, essentially making them stricter. And it’s not only television that this opposition has been met, with many different groups on the internet complaining of internet censorship especially affecting China. The conflict of opinions when it comes to television though, is where the question comes in, who has the right to decide.
The answer lies in our ability to sustain a balance between chaos and order. Through choosing to allow our governmental leaders to decide what is acceptable for viewing while also allowing the viewers to have their own say to a certain extent we will maintain our freedom without allowing too much.
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