Media censorship

Media censorship (or story burying) is a common problem among modern news organizations, both in print and on television networks. News organizations with a political bias will often censor news stories by:

* failing to report on them
* reporting on them, but making them less prominent (either by placing the story in a less prominent position, or devoting less air-time to it)
* failing to adequately represent one side of a story.

The third is by far the most common media tool. Most media organizations cannot risk not printing major stories (where "major" can apply either to importance in society or value to the audience - these do not always overlap. See infotainment), or burying them to less prominent positions, lest they risk losing their audience or market share. Instead, media outlets will enact their censorship agenda by misrepresenting one side of a story, where the misrepresentation is often proportional to the political importance or partisanship quotient of the story.

Party misrepresentation can take the form of:

* omitting quotes from an organization that would make the story less damaging to that organization
* using an incomplete quote from an organization to mislead
* referring to one organization using volatile and emotive language

## Contents

* 1 Media censorship in various regimes
* 1.1 China (#168)
* 2 See also
* 3 External links
* 4 References

## Media censorship in various regimes[edit]

The index of press freedom ranks 175 of the worlds' nations by their degree of freedom of the press[1] (the higher the rank, the freer the press). Below are listed some nations notable for their press censorship or freedom.

### China (#168)[edit]

According to the Council on Foreign Relations,

China's constitution affords its citizens freedom of speech and press, but the document contains broad language that says Chinese citizens must defend "the security, honor, and interests of the motherland." Chinese law includes media regulations with vague language that authorities use to claim stories endanger the country by sharing state secrets.[2]

## See also[edit]

* Media bias
* Media propaganda
* List of military strategies and concepts

## External links[edit]

* Accuracy in Media (AIM) non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog [3]
* IHateTheMedia.com
* NewsBusters [4]
* How to detect bias in the news

## References[edit]

1. ↑ en.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/classement_en.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.cfr.org/publication/11515/media_censorship_in_china.html
3. ↑ http://www.aim.org/index
4. ↑ http://newsbusters.org/