Discuss the Case for Having Increased Censorship in the Media

Newspapers in Britain are owned by a small group of formidable corporations that have power over a large market. We all obtain information and entertainment via these newspapers which convey to us the values, opinions and codes of behaviour considered necessary for us to fit into our society. While we have a free press that can operate without government interference, we also have some of the most notorious tabloid papers in the world, known for publishing controversial material and for their stretching of the truth, espe­cially concerning people in the public eye. Newspaper owners have power without responsibility, a view often expressed today. The British press has more freedom than their broadcasting equivalents, being self-regulatory, with voluntary codes of practice which are often reinterpreted or ignored. This essay will argue that increased press censorship is necessary in order to deal with the sensitive, contentious issues of religious beliefs and privacy, while on the other hand accepting that the press also need freedom to work openly to report the truth.

Respect for religious beliefs has rarely troubled the mainstream press. Recent caricatures printed in a Danish newspaper, mocking the Prophet Muhammad, caused a furore among Muslims who repeatedly asked the newspaper editor to stop printing the cartoons. The requests were ignored. Muslims called the cartoons blasphemous because Islam bans all ridicule of Muhammad. Newspapers in Europe felt justified in reprinting the cartoons, even though their doing so was deeply offensive to millions of Muslims. These cartoons have now been republished in almost every major European country, setting off angry demonstrations amongst Muslims from Denmark to the Far East. Several people have been killed and moderate Muslims have suffered the backlash of fntolerance. Boycotts of Danish goods in Muslim countries are costing Danish companies millions of pounds. One Iranian paper, Hamshahri, is threatening to retaliate by running Holocaust cartoons. 'The western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the basis of freedom of expression,' says Hamshahn's graphics editor, 'so let's see if they mean what they say, and also print these Holocaust cartoons.' [Farid Mortazavi, 06.02.2006] Freedom of speech must go hand in hand with respect and considera­tion for the feelings of others. This applies equally to the press and everyday life. Reporting for the Guardian, Tabish Khair states that:

Freedom of expression is necessary not because it is a God-given virtue, but because if you let authorities Start hacking away at it you are liable to be left with nothing. But along with the right to express comes the duty to consider the rights of others. This applies as much to Jyllands-Posten [the Danish paper that published the cartoons] as to the mobs in Beirut.

Reporters Without Borders has defended the media's right to make fun, but many European newspapers argue that free speech is not an excuse for unwarranted insults. The Guardian argues that 'newspapers are not obliged to republish offensive material merely because it's controversial' (03.02.2006). Indeed, the British govern­ment have praised their media for acting in a prudent manner by not publishing the cartoons in their own newspapers. Appropriate press regulation and censorship of European newspapers could have stopped the publication of these cartoons, a simple thing that would have prevented the volatile demonstrations, boycotts of Danish goods, loss of innocent lives and the racial conflict that followed.

Of course, free speech is important, but the fact that some jour­nalists are so keen to write intrusively about people's private lives is also an area of concern. Writing about her time in Iraq, Kate Adie reveals that:

I was bothered by the tabloid press... at least one paper had sent a reporter to track my moves and get a few embarrassing snaps... some journalists wrote ridiculous fiction... it comes with the turf. (Adie, 2002: 386)

The press argue that it is in the public interest, but there are a number of journalists who will not support associates whose writing is too concerned with gossip and scandal:

We are now far too sensationalistic. You can read any amount of lies in the papers every day... I direct my reporters to tell people what is actually happening, not what they think should be happening. (Seirerstad, 2004: 65)

Such writing is said to challenge the tradition of wide-ranging journalistic public discussion, which is important in any democratic society. In October 2000, the Human Rights Act was introduced. The act contains a right to respect for a private family life. However, some journalists believe censorship and prior restraint could prove disastrous for investigative journalism. This is aptly demonstrated by the following quote:

Was the lying politician, Jonathan Aitken, on a private holiday when he was in Paris? If he was and the Human Rights Act on privacy had been law at the time, how could the Guardian legally have discovered who paid his hotel bill? (Mass Media: Press Complaints Commission, 2006)

Despite the Human Rights Act, there is still public and journalistic disquiet over the reporting of personal details regarding people's private lives. Increased press censorship could protect privacy, promote meaningful journalism and allay concern over intrusive news­paper reporting.

In the aftermath of disaster or tragedy, newspaper sales increase dramatically. People often want to know the personal angle, there­fore journalists could be said to be meeting readers' demands. Conversely, there are journalists who state that such writing is used as justification for selfish, unethical behaviour, and that it is more important for them to think about what is appropriate in the circum­stances. It should, however, be borne in mind that journalists working for the tabloids are under a huge amount of pressure from editors who want powerful pieces of journalism in order to increase their newspaper sales. Many journalists are not happy with such inva­sive journalism which makes them feel guilty about their ruthless behaviour. However, they know that their survival depends on producing the kind of material that editors demand. Appropriate regulation and censorship should prevent such invasion into private grief. Editors would no longer be able to put journalists under such tremendous pressure to produce this emotive and intrusive writing.

To summarise, increased press censorship could prevent potential problems when dealing with concerns such as religious beliefs and privacy. Appropriate censorship would have checked the publication and repeated printing of the satirical cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, thus averting the anger and demonstrations amongst millions of Muslims. In turn, lives would not have been lost, people would not have suffered the backlash of intolerance and millions of pounds' worth of Danish goods would not have been boycotted in Muslim countries. Press censorship should preclude journalists from writing intrusively about people's private lives. Many journalists are not happy with writing that includes too much gossip and scandal, or that intrudes into private grief, but they are under huge pressure from their editors to produce the pieces of journalism that the public seem to demand. Increased press censorship to stop this sort of writing would alleviate pressure on journalists to deliver such work, thus lessening public concern over invasive journalism.

(from W. Smalzer)

13. Цитирование, прямое и косвенное, ссылка на источники и пересказ являются тактиками, используемыми в научных работах, чтобы избежать плагиата. Кроме того, их роль возрастает в случае аннотирования, т.к. они являются базовыми стратегиями написания аннотации.

Принципы построения аннотации, глубина представления основных проблем, выводов и рекомендаций автора отличны в различных видах аннотации.

Просмотрите приведенные ниже примеры,и определите, какие аннотации можно отнести к типу free summary, а какие – к разновидности précis-writing (классификация по ПР под ред Уолш)?

Self-summary [66, 80]

Our exploration of intentional ascription in autistic children has brought the following points to the foreground. I started off by arguing in favor of a radical distinction between ascription ability and folk theory of mind. I examined the sentential account of ascription content because it is a most appealing account for many. However, I found that it is inappropriate to understand cases of incomprehensible linguistic behavior. Finally, I have outlined a theoretical background for the study of intentional ascription ability in autistic children.

Annotations, selected examples from «Scientific American», 1995, v. 270-273, NN. 1-6 [66, 83].

• Jamison, Kay Redfield. «Manic-depressive illness and creativity»: Recent studies have shown a link between creativity and mood disorders such as manic-depressive illness and major depression. The connection is examined, and the cases of Lord Tennyson, Vincent van Gogh and Robert Schumann are highlighted.

• Newman, Jack. «How breast milk protects newborns»: Some of the molecules and cells in human milk actively help infants stave off infection. The way in which breast milk helps protect newborns from disease is detailed.

• Stewart, Ian. «The never-ending chess game»: A hypothetical chess game that goes on forever without checkmate and without repeating the same sequence of moves three times in a row is presented.

• LeDoux, Joseph E. «Emotion, memory and the brain»: Researchers have begun to understand the brain's role in producing emotion, and one rewarding area of study lies in the relation between memory and emotion. The neural routes underlying the formation of memories about emotional experiences have been traced.

• Bartecchi, Carl E. et al. «The global tobacco epidemic»: The global increase in cigarette consumption is analyzed. Researchers in preventive medicine and public health say education; programs need to be supplemented and new strategies formed that aim to regulate cigarette marketing and raise taxes on tobacco.