Austin Creasey

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104
01 April 2017

Censorship: The Price of Silence and Democracy

As Americans, we all want to know what the latest news is in society and what our

government is up to. These fundamental freedoms are the base for us to stay informed and

prevent our government from abusing censorship of information we as a society have a right to.

Even now given recent events of the past election the question comes to hand how much can we

trust our government with telling us the truth? With scandals of censoring and leaks of classified

information we as a society should be trying to stay informed now more than ever.

The debate has been argued for decades whether censorship does more good than harm

when it comes to specifically classified or sensitive information. It really picked up controversy

during the Watergate Scandal and has become a popular topic since then. Now with the 2016

election and Russian Probe events going on with the Trump Administration, I think that it is now

more than ever a time to discuss the impacts it has on society. There are many pros and cons to

censorship, it has proven to be very useful and stopping major outbreaks of chaos and

psychological harm throughout the world. But the issue has also arisen where does the line draw

of what counts as abuse of censorship. Throughout this paper, I seek to explore the positives and

negatives of censorship and how it has helped society throughout the past couple of decades, and

how it can be abused by powerful, government officials. By the end, I hope to arrive at the
conclusion of is censorship of sensitive and classified information a necessity or a tool for

corruption or abuse of power.

Before we delve into the censorship in the United States, I think it is important to look at

it from a global perspective first and compare its positives and negatives to those of the United

States. The abuses of censorship are more common in many other countries than the United

States that dont have the same fundamental freedoms as we do. A more recent example of how

censorship is abused in other countries is in Turkey. Many of the media outlets and newspapers

are not allowed to speak out against the government and those who tried to expose these

violations of free speech were then silenced and persecuted with the abuse of censorship in their

country. There are some though who comment on these hardships though and openly speak out

against it. Yavuz Baydar, a journalist for the CUMHURIYET DAILY which is one of the few

newspapers left in Turkey that does not let the oppression of censorship silence their opinions.

They explained to the public that the new emergency rule passed gives the government the

ability to shut down media outlets that are a threat to national security. Anyone who speaks out

against the growing violence in South-eastern Turkey or speaks out in any way against the

government runs the risk of being shut down and prosecuted. This is just one of many examples

of how censorship has been twisted and abused by people in positions in power to silence those

who speak out against them no matter what. Although this shows the hardships many countries

have to face with the abuses of censorship, it isnt right to totally discard censorship and say it

causes complete harm without comparing both sides of the problem.

Looking at Censorship in the United States it differs a lot from the abuses and benefits

from other countries. Our first amendment right, which is fundamental, protects people and

media from censorship such as what happened in Turkey. In the past decade, there has been
much controversy over censorship and its abuses up to now with the Trump administration. This

controversy over what the government can and cant censor along with behind closed doors

scandals started with the Bush Administration with the Patriot Act following 9/11. This gave

more power to the government to collect information from people and target anyone they felt

was a threat to them. One of the most controversial uses of censorship during this time was

political appointees during Bushs administration censored climate science reports from

government agencies. According to TIME, A survey found that nearly half of 1,600 government

scientists at seven agencies ranging from NASA to the EPA had been warned against using terms

like global warming in reports or speeches, through bushes eight-year presidency (Walsh 3) A

scandal as large as this one shows yet again one of the darker sides of censorship over the past

decade in the United States. Many abuses of censorship are directly linked to presidential

administrations trying to promote their own agenda and popularity by censoring what is

supposed to be protected by our first amendment right. Similarities can be seen with this through

the Trump administration in current day. Reports have shown that they have threatened the EPA

to take down their websites in order to not promote global warming. These examples show how

in modern day censorship is a powerful and corrupting tool that can directly control societies and

must be stopped at every point to not be abused. But aside from the bad parts of censorship, there

are some benefits to having censorship in a society and it can be argued as a necessity to a certain

degree.

Sometimes Censorship is necessary

Censorship, while it may have its hardships, can offer many benefits to society itself.

There comes a time when censorship necessary and protects more than it tears down. One of the

most primary examples of how censorship can protect rather than harm is through the censorship
of military secrets and classified information. While the questioning of what is going on with our

military, especially during a time of war, is important, the need for secrecy is even more.

Revealing military secrets publicly to enemies during a time of war puts us at more of a

disadvantage of a society than anything. Due to this, information is classified or routinely

censored to prevent secrets from being leaked into the wrong hands or causing widespread panic.

While it can be argued that this should be public knowledge, censorship of classified information

has proven to be a benefit to society at many times.

Another case for censorship being a necessity to society that steers away from classified

information is to prevent the exposure of dangerous media exposed to children and to prevent

psychological harm to people. Children, most of all, at such a young age are easily influenced by

the outside world and peoples actions. So, things such as violence and pornography if not

censored have a detrimental, psychological impact. When exposed too material like this it can

shape their adulthood in a negative way. Studies have shown that children exposed to

pornography through the internet tend to show an increased aggressive behavior as adults. This

and violent media, if not censored from children can have negative mental health effects on our

children. These examples are just some points that have been made in favor of censorship and

show how in some cases it is a necessity that can protect society from physical and psychological

harm. But like most things, once abused and over used it can cause just as much harm as not

using it at all.

The Silence of Democracy

The major controversy has come down to the abuse of censorship and its shadow over

freedom of speech and press across the world. The over abuse of censorship has silenced many

media outlets and people from ever speaking out against their government and leaders. Those
who try are dealt with through imprisonment, discredited, or even worse fates. This has been a

common issue throughout the 20th century with examples such as the U.S.S.R., Nazi Germany,

and the Middle East dating far back. This over abuse must be countered against in order to

preserve basic human rights and we must not let our country fall to the over abuse of censorship

in modern day.

Over the past decade many have argued that the abuse of censorship, especially classified

information, has been a major issue in our country. Many argue that the American people have a

right to know majority of classified information that our government keeps, while the other

believe that it is necessary for society. Many traces of abuse can be lead back to Bush

administration, as above with the global warming scandal. An example is the Patriot Act, which

at the time seemed like a good way to prevent terrorism, has turned to be another tool for

silencing people. It gives extreme powers to law enforcement agencies over what to do with

immigrants and access to anyones records without warrant. Fast forward to present day and one

can argue that censorship is more of a threat now than other. Many view the Trump

administration as a threat to the first amendment right. With his attacks on media outlets and the

judiciary branch, he has used censorship to cover up scandals and to try and discredit the media

from reporting any of this. Another example is Trumps administrations involvement with

Russia. The use of censorship has been used throughout to try and cover up many ties with

Russia which includes the exclusion and resignation of many key Trump advisors who have been

reported tied to this scandal. Many view this as a major abuse of censorship that is just one step

closer from attacks on basic democratic beliefs. All of these examples show how censorship,

while necessary, can still be abused and threatening to our society.

The Effects of Information Leaks

Another key part of censorship that is left out most of the time and doesnt usually

involve government officials is information leaks or dumps. These are where classified

documents and news is uploaded or dumped onto the internet and exposed for the whole world

to see. The debate around this is whether or not this is causing more harm than good by shedding

light on morally wrong situations and if this promotes the increased use of censorship. Over the

past years, since 2007 when information leaks became very prevalent, many government

officials have taken it upon themselves to try and increase the silencing of these groups that

release this information and what will happen to people that try and report these findings to the

public. A more recent event that involves this was during the 2016 election when numerous

amounts of classified information relating to the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were

leaked by the group WikiLeaks. Their group has been known for many leaks back in 2007 and

2010 regarding the Cable Leaks, Pentagon Papers, and Afghan War Logs. These events have

made many political figures call for tighter restrictions of censorship in the form of bills such as

surveillance tapping.

WikiLeaks, being one of the most notorious groups, has caused chaos around the idea and

their advocacy for freedom of information. Many took away from supporting them after many of

their leaks started to affect the safety of military lives and classified intel. Groups such as them

have had a direct link to the controversy around whether there should be an increase in

censorship or not. One example of this was after the major Iraq War Logs leak in 2010 this called

for many policy makers to propose and pass bills that would such as wiretap all online

communication and internet traffic including foreign providers. Another bill called The Securing

Human Intelligence and Enforcing Lawful Dissemination Act (SHIELD) was passed in order to
prevent anyone from every compromising national security like WikiLeaks did ever again. The

proposed bill would make it illegal to publish the names of military or intelligence community

informants. These bills, while having a major effect on information leaks, only increased the use

of censorship and showing the public that it can be abused even through the passing of

legislation.

These examples show the controversy surrounding information leaks and their direct link

to the increase in censorship. While many will agree that WikiLeaks has done somewhat of a

service by exposing misbehavior of the United States government in many affairs, they have still

committed acts of compromise and put the lives of many people in danger through their leaks.

Many dont know the impact in the long run this could have on our government and free speech

rights. Will this increase or restore the freedom of information and sharing of classified

information more with the public and transparency of public documents? Or will this go down

the other path and lead to increased censorship and our government strengthening restrictions on

things such as Internet censorship. While both sides can be seen, many experts would agree that

moving into the future that information leaks will become more of a public harm than a service

like the short run. This is due to lawmakers and politicians who will tighten their grip over how

this information is accessed and will reduce the amount of classified information shared with the

public.

So, in conclusion, while many are divided on the stance of censorship and its growing

problem throughout the world, we must remember that while it can be a threat that it is necessary

to protecting society and preserving our future. The best way to keep balance through censorship

is recognize its importance while also fighting against its abuse. Now more than ever is key to
remember this for soon its shadow can spread over our country and take away many freedoms

like it has done to many other countries.

 Work Cited

- Aliprandini, Michael, and Geraldine Wagner. Censorship & Democracy: An Orverview.

Web.b.ebscohost.com, 1 Mar. 2016, web.b.ebscohost.com/pov/detail/detail?sid=b263c589-
b2b3-4b20-8a63-
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%3d#AN=23398163&db=pwh. Accessed 14 Feb. 2017.
- Newth, Mette. The Long History of Censorship. The Long History of Censorship,

2010,www.beaconforfreedom.org/liste.html?tid=415&art_id=475. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

- Walsh, Bryan. The Right to Speech Vs. the Right to Censor. Time, Time,
time.com/4688211/the-right-to-speech-vs-the-right-to-censor/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.
- Witherbee, Amy, and Ames C Cushman. Counterpoint: Sometimes Censorship is Necessary.
Web.b.ebscohost.com, Great Neck Publishing, 1 Mar. 2016,
web.b.ebscohost.com/pov/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c4d574fe-bf7a-4829-87b1-
afa800a28353%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#AN=12428150&db
=pwh. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.