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Edited on Wed Jun-15-05 02:42 PM by Jack Rabbit
In classical fascism, industry remained in private hands but was told what to do by the government. Dr. Goebbels, as propaganda minister, by law had the authority to censor any and all messages, print or broadcast.
The phenomena in our society is different. The main outlets of information have fallen into fewer and more homogeneous hands in the last several decades. If the owners decide it's not in their interests to let the public know something, the public can only find out what that is with some difficulty. Some have come to call this "corporate censorship". There is no government censorship; however, Amy Goodman, one of those to whom we turn to get what the mainstream media doesn't tell us, rightly asks whether it would make any difference if the government were censoring the media.
Censorship, whether directed by the government or the corporation itself, is anti-democratic. Democracy assumes that citizens will be given facts with which they can make informed decisions. Censorship assumes that there are facts the public is better off not knowing.
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