Media Censorship in Mexico and Australia -myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theMedia Censorship in Mexico and Australia for Democracy. Answer: Introduction Media censorship is a historical and global phenomenon. The governments of the ancient civilizations started practicing censorship (Billiani 2014) as a justification of the rules and regulations to maintain the law and order in the state. The oldest example of censorship, according to history, is that the famous Greek philosopher, Socrates was forced to drink poison as he defied the state orders to censor his philosophical teachings. As the societies progressed and technological revolution has come, censorship is now applied on the media. This is a phenomenon that opposes the right to democracy and freedom of speech of the citizens to serve any particular objective of the states (Hassan and Sutherland 2016). This essay highlights the comparison between the media censorship of Mexico and Australia. Discussion Media is a very important part of democratic society. It is the face and mouth of people of a nation (Cox 2013). However, it is seen in many countries and many times that the government has imposed censorship on the media to control the citizens by withholding vital information from them. Todays media has two major forms, print and digital. In the modern world, digital media plays a major role in influencing the society. Internet is one of the biggest forms of media. Australia and Mexico are both electoral democracies. However, Mexicans face rigid censorship in media contents than the Australians. According to the reports of Freedom House (2018), Mexico has a score of 39 in internet freedom out of 100, while Australia scores 22. Mexico has the status of partly free while Australia has earned the status of free country in terms of internet censorship. Hence, Australia enjoys more free internet than Mexico. It is also found from the reports of freedom house that Australia has blocked n one of the decisive sections listed by freedom house, while Mexico has blocked two sections, criticism of the authorities and corruption. Although Mexico has laws of freedom of press and speech in the internet, only two states, Tabasco and Veracruz, have imposed new restrictions on using social media (Garcia 2014). To avoid any kind of mass disturbance through social media like, twitter and Facebook, the government of Mexico imposed restrictions on few things. However, after introducing new telecommunication law in 2014, internet penetration in the country has increased, but the threats to the journalists have increased, which is an alarming situation. On the other hand, Australia has not imposed any block or filter on social media usage, but it has been planning to introduce regulations on giving the access to encrypted communication to the government (Clun 2017). This has not been welcome by the people and is seen as censorship. As the world is becoming more and more vulnerable to radicalism, internet censorship is increasing too. Mexico is partly free in this matter, while Australia is a free country. News censorship is a sensitive issue in Mexico but not much in Australia. According to bbc, both the countries have laws to regulate the print and digital news, but Mexico experiences extremism. Reporters Without Borders had ranked Mexico 149 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2016, that indicates that Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for the journalists (indexoncensorship.org 2018). The country also earned negative reputation for not solving the crimes against the journalists. Although the country has laws for freedom of press and speech, the journalists have faced threats and attacks and sometimes murder as they tried to investigate the criminal activities and corruption (Garcia 2014). On the other hand, the media of Australia does enjoy more freedom in publishing news and reports. According to the Freedom House, the Freedom of the Press score is 22 for Australia in 2017, while Mexicos score is 64 (Freedomhouse.org 2017). This gives the status free t o Australia. People can easily access to any type of news through print or digital media, which also includes social media. The government of Australia ensures that they maintain the laws regarding the right to information of the citizens (McKenzie 2015). People can directly participate in the social matters without any fear and hence the level of censorship is very low. Australia has one of the richest cultures in the world. The practice of arts and entertainment prevails in the society since its inception and till now the country enjoys free participation in these. Although, there have been instances of film censorship in Australia in the past, but those are not much significant (Cox 2013). While Mexico does face censorship in arts and entertainment to some extent more than Australia. Conclusion As per the reports of freedom house, Australia scores 1 out 7 in Freedom in The World index, while Mexico scores 3. The overall level of censorship on all types of media is quite high in Mexico, in comparison to Australia. In all forms of media, Australian government has limited the imposition of censorship and promoted the legal application of freedom of speech. On the other hand, Mexico does not offer a favorable place for the journalists, they have blocked two decisive sections in the internet to maintain law and order and have some censorship in the arts and entertainment. Thus, it can be concluded that, there is some level of censorship in both the countries, but the weightage is much less in Australia. References Billiani, F. ed., 2014.Modes of censorship: National contexts and diverse media. Routledge. Clun, R., 2017.Briz 31 ceases television broadcast, but online future has 'huge potential'. [online] Brisbane Times. Available at: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/briz-31-ceases-television-broadcast-but-online-future-has-huge-potential-20170308-gutvuy.html [Accessed 6 Mar. 2018]. Cox, S., 2013.Censorship is stifling Australia's artistic freedom of expression. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/australia-culture-blog/2013/jun/14/art-censorship-freedom-expression-australia [Accessed 6 Mar. 2018]. Freedomhouse.org, 2017.Australia. [online] Freedomhouse.org. Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/australia [Accessed 5 Mar. 2018]. Freedomhouse.org, 2018.Mexico. [online] Freedomhouse.org. Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/mexico [Accessed 5 Mar. 2018]. Garcia, L., 2014.Political Internet Censorship: a reality in Mexico. [online] Digitalrightslac.net. Available at: https://www.digitalrightslac.net/en/censura-politica-en-internet-una-realidad-en-mexico-con-un-poco-de-ayuda-de-estados-unidos-y-godaddy-com/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2018]. Hassan, R. and Sutherland, T., 2016.Philosophy of Media: A Short History of Ideas and Innovations from Socrates to Social Media. Taylor Francis. indexoncensorship.org, 2018.Mexico: Freedom of expression hobbled by self-censorship. [online] Index on Censorship. Available at: https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/08/mexico-freedom-expression-hobbled-self-censorship/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2018]. McKenzie, N., 2015.Press Freedom Australia. [online] MEAA. Available at: https://www.meaa.org/campaigns/press-freedom/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2018].