How To Increase Self Censorship In Iran

The government can not censor the press, even if what is published is against the government. The free press helps to protect citizens’ rights and hold the government in check. Also in accordance to the First Amendment, people have the right to join any organization of their choosing and come together as a group, peaceably. The last right that the public has is the right to present the government with petitions or letters that tell of their unhappiness and complaints against the government. This is a right that our founding fathers did not have back in England. When they declared independence from the King, they laid out all of their grievances for the world to see. In contrast, our citizens today do no have to wait for a historical event to vent their frustrations.

“Words of Fire,” by Anthony Collings, details the lives of different journalists in regards to free press and covering potentially dangerous stories. Anthony Collings is a former CNN reporter who shifted his focus from reporting to telling the story of journalists who have come under fire in a power struggle between government and free press. Collings puts free press into a spectrum, on one side there is the United States, where the press is largely free, and on the other side there are places like North Korea or China where press is largely restricted by the government. Collings does not focus on these extremes, but rather the places in the middle where there is an ongoing struggle between state power.

Immediately after the overthrow of King Zahir Shah in 1973, Afghanistan began to experience a drastic increase of media restrictions under its next ruling powers. However, when the Taliban gained control in 1996, the Islamic State of Afghanistan began a period of regulation which can be considered the most restricted in the world. Censorship is the act of a government or powerful group filtering information, news, and media to fit approved topics and categories. Under censorship, the people now have to be cautious of what they write, say, or do because if it’s deemed "offensive" or “illegal”, they can be penalized. ("Definitions of Censorship") The Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist group, proved to be no different. Whether it was news,

They have pass many laws for freedom of the press. For example in a 1969 landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students can engage in free speech only if it is lawful and not disruptive. Meaning that the U.S. government has little direct control over what the media print or broadcast. Floyd Adrams says “The worst time for freedom of the press has almost all ways bine during times of war”. People have a tendency to limit speech that is viewed as dangerous but the public understandably becomes nervous, but

China is one of the most controlled countries in the world. The Chinese constitution states that the people of China have freedom of speech, of the press, and of demonstration. However, this article in the constitution also states that the Chinese government has the authority to censor anything in the country when freedom of speech or of press could potentially be harmful to the country. So, in China, you are free to speak, but only about what the government says is okay to talk about. Also, protesting in China is a very dangerous task, as shown in the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. But, in August 2009, Chinese Internet users were able to “indefinitely postpone” the use of censorship software on all new computers in China, called the

There are cases in which in some countries, the authorities may prevent media outlets from reporting

Why is media censored in certain communities and what effect does it have? In the First Amendment of the US Constitution, the right to free speech is guaranteed. However, no right is without limit. When a right begins to infringe upon other an other person or a group of people rights, it can be brought to the courts and the court will try to come up with a fair and justice salvation. An example of a speech infringing on another people's rights would be to deliberately mislead someone to take some action or inaction that then results in them harming themselves. The speaker don't have the right to harm another person with their speech.

Children’s innocence must be protected by censorship. The debate on whether censorship is beneficial to society often compiles to a few main reasons. Subjects like freedom of speech, women’s rights, and children’s innocence is brought into question when discussing censorship. It is an important debate because what is censored influences societal beliefs of what is right and wrong. It decides what truths are revealed publicly. Some people think censorship is beneficial because it supposedly protects children, but it is actually useless because it underestimates children’s tolerance, witholds information, oversexualizes women, and sugarcoats the truth.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects the people of the country from censorship. This document says that people have to be free to say whatever it is that they feel the need to say, even if that statement is controversial. Actually, it is promised that people can say things especially when they are controversial. People who want to censor others do so because they do not agree with what it is that is being said. Only be protecting the First Amendment completely, and by not allowing censorship in any form can we continue to be completely free.

President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who supports the right of freedom has signed many treaties and document about the violation of human rights. The president of Iran is not honoring to the treaties and documents that he has signed. ("U.N. Again Calls On ....").Under the eight years of Ahmadinejad's government which enjoyed the full support of the Leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the first six years, the people of Iran has been experiencing an increasing of human rights violations, especially of women's rights, and there are also an increase of restriction on the media and civil society organizations ( Tohidi ). The number of journalists, academics and human rights defenders who have gone to prison during President Ahmadinejad's term in office has increased (Memarian). Iran has been discriminating their people by their religious, ethnic minorities, denial of political and civil rights. A Special Rapporteur

Accordingly, the writer instructs the reader to herewith pray for oneself, the following prayer ‘of being led through the slavery to rulership’ transformation journey, by the leading and teaching of the indwelling Holy Spirit presence of God;

However, freedom of speech, press, and expression is not a liberty valued by all nations. In Iran, a theocracy, the internet, television, and radio is littered with content that contradicts the core values of Islam, making it a threat to their culture. The most recent and popular display of how seriously the government is about media restrictions, is the arrest of the six Iranian citizens who took part in the production of a music video of Pharrell Williams’ hit, “Happy”. Reporters say “the police found it offensive. Iran state media called it ‘vulgar’” (Ghitis). The young people were released due to pressure from other nations, however the director remains in prison for his crimes.

The government in Iran is one of the reasons why they should be monitored, as it's the reason for the country being in such bad state. Also the first step to know a country has a stable government is to see if the citizens are well aware of the truth about what their government is up to, but all broadcasting from Iranian soil is controlled by the state and reflects official ideologies, Iran has been described by media freedom advocates as "among the five biggest prisons in the world" for journalists. The problem Iran faces is because of the very nature of the regime that has led the nation into a situation where no progress is possible. The system Iran uses today for government is a Khomeinist system, the leader is referred to as Mullah which means “supreme guide”, is this system the Mullah has unlimited power without responsibility, unlike a president who has more responsibility than power. In such systems, leaders who have unlimited power and not much responsibility tend to want to create a “strong men” reputation or image, and therefore permanently creating and atmosphere full of tension and crisis, thus always wanting to “be the man” and tries causing fights. Every Iranian president, from Abol Hassan Banisadr to Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei when they served as president, also ended up by realizing that the system created by Ruhollah Khomeini is the cause of all of the country's problems. Iran with this political system like this shouldn't ever be left unmonitored.(Taheri,

The index continued to focus on government constraints on press freedom in general, and this aspect became even more acute with some of the questions, such as the one mentioned above on self-censorship, whose responses changed from a 0-5 scale in 2010 to four possible options:

First of all, this is the definition of freedom of the press from lawbrain.com. Freedom of the press guarantees the rights, “to gather, publish, and distribute information and ideas without government restriction or restraint”. Also it is