We explain what censorship is, what types exist and its relationship with freedom of expression. Also, what is self-censorship.
What is censorship?
Censorship consists of the elimination or modification of an artistic or communication material (such as a text, a film or an image) when it is considered by the authorities to be contrary to morals, offensive, harmful or inconvenient. Those who exercise censorship are known as censors.
This mechanism of repression or control of expression can be exercised for ideological, political or moral reasons, and is carried out prior to the dissemination or publication of the material, in order to filter what is made available to the public.
Although censorship is typical and frequent in authoritarian regimes or dictatorships, in which the authority politics controls what can or cannot be said, so that nothing threatens the established power, also in the democracies Liberals there is always a minimum margin of censorship designed to control. For example, it is common for newscasts and movies broadcast on television at times suitable for all audiences to censor frontal nudity, graphic representations of the sexual act, and violent acts that may offend the public's susceptibility.
The word (and to a large extent the practice) “censorship” comes from Ancient Rome and the public office of censor, a magistrate in charge of preparing the census (census) of the population: there it was determined who and how many citizens there were, how much they owned and how much they contributed to the Roman State.This censor, however, could remove from the list those who had committed crimes serious, crimes of high treason or acts contrary to public decency, which led to the loss of their Roman citizenship.
types of censorship
There are different types of censorship, depending on the criteria taken into account:
(a) According to the way in which censorship is exercised:
- Direct censorship. It occurs when material that contradicts the rules is prohibited or modified by the authorities, that is, when the censorship is exercised directly on the object or on the media. For example, in a dictatorship it is common to prohibit any opinion piece to be critical of government, calling it subversive or conspiratorial.
- Indirect censorship. It occurs when the retaliation of the authority is not exerted directly on the prohibited text, its author or its diffusers, but acts discreetly or indirectly, that is, collaterally preventing the material from being disseminated. For example, in a dictatorship, the government can restrict access to the paper of an opposition newspaper, or prevent a television channel from renewing its permits, or act in any other way that allows it to censor its opponents, without acting frontally. .
(b) According to the degree of intervention in the censored material:
- Total censorship. It occurs when the censored material is totally prohibited, completely restricting its disclosure or exhibition to the public. For example, this is what happened in the Middle Ages with the books prohibited by the Catholic Church, which were collected and destined to burn in a public pyre.
- Partial censorship. It occurs when the censored material is intervened by the authorities to hide a segment or a portion, without prohibiting the public exhibition or disclosure of the rest of the work.For example, this is what happens with videos with graphic or shocking content in newscasts, in which certain details are blurred or blurred to protect the sensitivity of the audience.
(c) According to what motivates the censorship:
- moral censorship It occurs when the reasons for censoring the material are of the moral, that is, when the material exhibits elements contrary to what public morality considers fit or worthy. For example, full frontal nudity is often censored in publications intended for the general public.
- Political censorship. It occurs when the reasons for censoring the material are political or partisan, that is, when the factions that control the political power (of the government) do not want or are not interested in certain information being known. This type of censorship is typical of non-democratic regimes, as happened with the burning of communist books in the Nazism German.
- religious censorship It occurs when the reasons for censoring the material are religious or dogmatic, that is, when the material exhibits elements that contradict the dogma official or are disrespectful to the prevailing faith. This type of censorship is typical of fundamentalist religious regimes and ultraconservative dictatorships, as is the case with radical Islamist governments, in which any graphic representation of the Prophet Muhammad is prohibited.
- Military censorship. It occurs when the reasons for censoring the material have to do with the protection of state secrets or information considered too dangerous in strategic or national defense terms to circulate openly among the public. For example, the classified files of the Central Intelligence Bureau (CIA) in the United States.
- Corporate censorship. It occurs when the reasons for censoring the material have to do with the defense of corporate or industrial secrets.Often this type of censorship is exercised unofficially, through the influence that a corporation has over a communication or broadcast medium. For example, the attempt by some pharmaceutical companies to hide the side effects of their mass-selling products.
self-censorship
Self-censorship consists of that censorship that an individual exercises on himself, before it is formally exercised by a censor. It occurs when the media, creators and artists, journalists and other possible entities that are censored by a particularly strict or openly dictatorial authority, stop risking being censored for fear of the consequences that this may bring, and prefer to hide sensitive information or that they could get you into trouble.
This type of censorship is a common consequence when censorship has been repeatedly or traumatically suffered, and it is considered a phenomenon contrary to freedom of expression. In other areas, however, such as the personal, one can speak of “self-censorship” in a figurative sense, to refer to restraint or prudence when speaking, so as not to say something that we may later regret.
Censorship, and freedom of speech
Although censorship may have democratic uses as part of the protection of minors, or to protect the military interests of the state, censorship is generally frowned upon in democratic and liberal societies. It is interpreted as an advance on the freedom of expression of people, since, with the excuse of defending State interests or protecting public morals, selective silencing or political persecution can be exercised.
Throughout history, many artists have suffered censorship of their works, because the morality of the time did not tolerate their artistic expressions or considered their work dangerous.
Authors such as the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) and Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), for example, often saw their works censored or banned, and themselves punished with the insane asylum or prison. The same thing happened to the Indian author Salman Rushdie (1947-), who in 1988 was persecuted and censored by the Muslim authorities of different countries, in which his fourth novel (titled the satanic verses) was banned and publicly burned.