Analysis of Issue - 1

“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.

My take:

Television and radio are still the most dominant channels of information propagators in the current age witnessing the exponential growth of connectivity through internet. This is because the penetration power of these two channels is much larger when compared to any other medium. So a careful sifting of the programs delivered on television and radio is important to ensure that the right kind of message reaches to the people.

Television and radio programs like news programs, serials based on mythological stories, etc play an important role in shaping up the understanding of the viewers. These play a role of a window to the outer world for people so a proper selection and moderation of these programs play a profound impact in shaping up the visions of people. Programs which are broadcast during the time witnessing highest viewers should therefore be carefully selected and moderated to send the right message across to the people.

Technology advancements have made the easy delivery of the content of television and radio possible in cheap and widely available electronic devices like mobile phones and radio devices. Such electronic devices are used across a broad range of age group. For example students who have accessibility to devices like mobile phone for most of the time are most vulnerable if the broadcast content is not carefully censored. Also, with the increasingly busy lives of the people it is not possible to monitor what content is being watched by the younger members of the house. In such cases the deliverable content to such devices can be limited or moderated with proper consideration.

At the same time, the extent of censorship should be such that it does not end up twisting or stifling the real conditions from reaching the masses. It is important to convey the truth, however harsh that may be, about the happenings around the world because this has a bearing on the decisions and initiatives taken by people to try to contribute to their immediate surroundings in whatever way they can. It is also important that the needs of every age group of viewers are sufficiently met. So an extreme position on cenorship which limits the available content to a great extent is also not desirable. People with good discretional power can use various options provided by cable operators to select the content that is delivered to their television sets and thus can ensure right food for their though process.