Governments should control what kind of content reaches their Essay

Governments should control what kind of content reaches their populations through the media because they are responsible for pro - Essay Example The Communist concept proposed by Lenin states that mass media should aim at nation building by publishing news relating to the entire society's policies and goals as determined by the government. The third concept called Development concept is applied mainly to underdeveloped countries that are lacking in media and other technological resources.  Whichever is the mode of control, the censoring mechanism by government acts as an effective control and monitoring for the media and is an indispensable component of a successful democracy. (Martin, 1983) Ensuring Authenticity of Information The media, sometimes, promotes and spreads lies, defamations and gossip. There are too many newspapers and news-channels that have made it their routine affair to gossip and spread rumours about persons who always tend to occupy the centre-stage of public’s attention - whether it's a sportsperson, a film star or a politician. The government should make it a point to ensure that every matter th at is printed and circulated is actually newsworthy, as accurate as possible and not malicious or biased. Some of us might be of the view that a censored state would mean no free speech. But is the right to free speech synonymous to the right to publish lies? The answer would be a NO. Hence it is clearly necessary that whatever is published is sensible and non-offensive.Freedom of speech may apparently seem to be an issue at hand, but the more critical issue here is integrity. Censorship not only ensures that that the media activities adhere to the principles of humanity but also conceals the sensitive issues until it is the right time to reveal them. Currently, there are lots of irresponsible media agencies and journalists offering and spreading around their own interpretation of the situation, even though it is wrong. This often causes harm to reputation and even lives. But censorship enables the information to be verified before it is put in front of the masses. The government is needed to censor the media to protect the people, the media and the international community. Restricting Negative Impact on Children Children in the modern world grow up experiencing the impact of media in all spheres of their life. If the media conveys to them false notions and fabricated ideas regarding life and society, they will begin to expect something that society really isn't. They will go out to the world behaving like what they see their favourite characters doing on television, in video games and in movies. Our children could also begin to idolize the celebrities, more show than substance, whom the media figuratively worship and publicise for their own business gains. The acts of such celebrities on the big screen promote malpractices among the teenagers such as abusing drugs, spoiling relationships, committing crimes and getting involved in unethical and immoral activities. Hence, some selective content should be filtered before it is passed down to be viewed by general public as not only children, but a lot of adults are also not able to steer their own opinions and end up getting negatively influenced by the media. Children are the building blocks of a nation. But children growing up under the influence of misleading media will lead to demotion of the society rather than promoting and contributing to the success of society. So it is