Please Rate Analysis of Issue - Topic - TV, Radio Censorship

[zankhanabroker]

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ANALYSIS OF AN ISSUE
TOPIC - 1
Time - 45min 12sec

"In some countries, television and radio programs are carefully censored for offensive language and behavior. In other countries, there is little or no censorship."

In your view, to what extent should government or any other group be able to censor television or radio programs?
Explain, giving relevant reasons and/or examples to support your position.

Individuals belonging to one school of thought believe -

Why do we need censorship? Do we need someone to tell us what we should watch or hear? Don’t we live in a democratic country where freedom of speech, freedom of making our own decision is our right to living?

Individuals belonging to another school of thought believe -

Are we here to spread ill effects of violence, pornography, corruption to our next generation? We as citizens of the country don’t have any kind of social responsibility to preserve the culture, tradition which our ancestors have passed down to us, as our heritage? Do we want modern country whose foundation - values system, morals and beliefs are weak and fragile? Do we want our country to be the next warzone?

The challenge censor team faces is to balance the extremes.

Before we explore the opportunities to balance the extremes, let’s understand why censorship is required or a necessity?

Censorship in a layman’s term is editing material to an extent that one’s pleasure or good to know information does not lead to another person feeling of viewing offensive or objectionable material; irrespective of any mode of communication.

Now that we have an idea of censorship, let’s look at what are the benefits and effects of giving freedom to an individual to view any kind of material through any mode of communication one chooses.

It’s been found that kids imitate elders and select them as role models. If kids are exposed to uncensored material through any mode of communication then there are high chances of it being implemented immediately. Most of the terrorist or negative elements of the society have had bad childhood. At an impressionable age, they were exposed to violence, sexual abuse, alcoholic parents, drug abuse and no education or guidance on what is right and what is wrong. This not only affects society but the individual himself/herself and entire life is ruined. This individual if exposed to good environment could have been a better individual and contributed to country’s growth.

Let’s look at what are the benefits and effects of restricting freedom to an individual to view any kind of material through any mode of communication one chooses.

It’s normally observed that restriction beyond a limit can do more harm than help. It could create a rebellious individual who wants to experience all the things which are not accessible to him/her.

It could also lead to underdevelopment of an individual or ignorance to a subject. In India, we find parents not comfortable talking about sex with their teenage kid. This leads to implied versions of sex education. If we have parents explaining the kids about sex as functional organ and how it has not to be abused then we will have kids aware and well informed to take right decisions even during a weaker moment in their life.

Television, Radio and Newspaper are very powerful mode of communications and they can do wonders in shaping a community. If these modes of communication are abused then we might be doing major harm to not only our future generation but to our loved ones whom we expect to excel in today’s world.

In India, on a regional radio, one radio jockey passed a comment on a particular caste. Due to this comment, there was violence spread in the town and radio jockey was put behind bars on the pretext of arousing people and disrupting peace of the land.
When some one is at a position where he/she can make lot of influence with the choice of words one uses, it becomes a social responsibility of an individual to be alert and cautious.

To conclude, I believe that censorship should be like a skeleton where guidelines are laid down for the society to follow. Also, choice of censorship team should be judiciously done where people from all walks of life are part of this team to get a 360 degree view before censoring any kind of material.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi - I just want to make sure you know that instructors don't rate or review essays - see the sticky for this folder if you have any questions. But, of course, you are more than welcome to post and ask for feedback from your peers!

One comment though: you posted a time of 45 min. Do you have extended time on the test? If so, let us know. The normal time limit is 30 min, so if you wrote this in 45 min but DON'T have extended time, then this isn't an accurate representation of what you could do in 30 min and a sample score wouldn't be useful.