Media censorship is the concealment of articulation, communication or any detailed fact that is treated as disagreeable, inappropriate and sensitive. In Chines government strictly keeps a check on the traditional as well as novel media to prevent potential disruption of its position in the world. While in Turkey, media censorship is modulated by international and domestic jurisprudence and it is controlled by the implementing them in the country. This essay elaborates comparisons between the media censorship of China and Turkey in regards of Broadcasting, print, social Media, Literature and use of internet
In Both China and turkey, the media is controlled by the strict rules and Journalists are also suppressed by the government. In China the suppuration on media is at its top. The media is compelled to present any news or article according to the government guidelines for instance Boehler (2014) ‘Hong Kong protests Blocked’ In Chinese newspapers, it is strictly instructed to avoid some numbers like “four” and “six”. These numbers are also not allowed to be utilized in the headline of the newspapers because the devastating event happened in 04 june 1989 in china so it is considered unlucky sign (The Global and Mail 2012) However, the print media in turkey like the newspaper has been liable to legal actions and raids, with numerous reporters being seized and killed (Yilmaz 2016). The media censorship restricts the freedom of speech in turkey, Reporters without Borders (2019) “On World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is drawing attention to the alarming level of cyber-censorship in Turkey, where the judicial authorities blocked almost three thousand online articles last year and the regime is beginning to clamp down on online video services”. Furthermore, Chinese censor system blacks out any debatable parts in the broadcasting of news. On the other hand, in the recent years, the current Turkish president Erdugan has imposed lot of restrictions on Electronic and press Media the television anchors and news journalists are facing tremendous pressure on expression of their views against government’s narrative. (Freedom on the net 208). In 2016 a hundred of people were arrested and many of them was killed by the government authorities. Not only local journalists but the international journalists are also being bullied and threatened by the Turkish government. some journalists were banned to on-air their programs, due to their opposite mind of thought. Press media also forced to be the pro the government and no news article is allowed to print that illustrates the antigovernment ideas. Although it is being said that Media has liberty of freedom by the governing bodies but ground reality is entirely different.
Like suppression on electronic and Print media the use of the internet is also under very strict surveillance and suppuration in both countries but their way of execution is altered. In china many websites are completely banned and some has restricted to limited access social media has being monitored significantly. The online surveillance is stern enough that does not allow to get full access to many websites. The mainstream social media is being blocked in china. Globally popular social media sites like Facebook Messenger, Flickr, Google, Instagram Periscope, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Slack, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube are banned in china (Haigh 2018). It is the worst example of censorship. In contrast to Turkey, China internet censorship is very refined and efficient. There is a system which is known as The Great Firewall of China to block the websites. A Harvard study was conducted in which eighteen thousand sites were banned and the number of blocking the sites is increasing day by day (Zhu 2018). In China, some websites planned to introduce a changed style of search engines. Some search engines are banned in China. Information about religion, human rights and democracy are also banned. The Chinese Law enforces internet service providers to recognize the users of the internet and help in the control of online public speech. In China, “black PRs” are the critics of government whose data is discarded form the websites (Wu, Weinberg and Ho 2018). While in Turkey, problems identified with the freedom of judicial culture and judiciary. Harassment in the Turkish society including the human rights safeguards: There are burdens of media bans or power outages. The Turkish government also imposed restrictions on public interests. Turkey has made its fire ware network to monitor the online searches of people and they even making surveillance on local communication apps and chatroom. Freedom on the net (2018) “Engelliweb, a website that tracked total blocking figures, found that more than one hundred and fourteen thousand websites were inaccessible as of November 2016, up from about fourty thousans in 2013”
The effect of censorship is also making a vibrant impact on Literature of China and Turkey. In China, some educational organizations were blamed for suppressing the debatable historical events. the Chinese government detained a consignment of textbooks since it was showing the major lands of Taiwan and China. Some websites were also banned in china since it included plagiarized data. GAPP provides a license to all the Chinese publishers and it has the right to censor or ban any publication (Shambaugh 2017). The ratio between the official and un-licensed book is around 40:60. In comparison to turkey, confinements of the academic opportunities identified problems as numerous scholars were suspended, compelled to leave, rejected and taken into the custody of the police. Scholars were also influenced by the government's media censorship. Later on, a Third Reform Package arrived where all the past prohibition on publications was dropped except if restored by the court.
Media censorship is globally recognized issue.so both Countries China and Turkey strictly follow the rules and regulations formed within the country. The government of China is aware of the policies of China regarding the freedom of media and information, but it is also concerned about those freedoms which can lead to embarrassment for the Chinese government. In contrast to China, Turkey media censorship is always a matter of concern. In Turkey, the major issue in the improvement of freedom of speech and media is the absence of political policies. Both China and Turkey government formulates certain rules and regulations and try to control and maintain the media censorship while protecting the citizen’s right to freedom and information.
Reference list
Patric Boehler (2014), South china morning post Record censorship of China's social media as references to Hong Kong protests blocked, viewed 11 November 2019
https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1603869/record-censorship-chinas-social-media-references-hong-kong
Reporters without borders, April17,2019 viewed 13November 2019https://rsf.org/en/news/turkeys-courts-blocked-nearly-3000-online-articles-last-year
Haig P 15, October 2018 Met5ro news Haigh P 2018 viewed 13 November 2019https://metro.co.uk/2018/10/15/can-you-use-whatsapp-instagram-or-facebook-in-china-all-the-social-media-sites-blocked-in-china-8040321
freedeomonNet2018,June,01,2017-May,31,2018,veiewed12November 2019https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2018/turkey
CWu, C Weinberg, C.B and Ho, j., 2018. Act global, protect local: Hollywood movies in china. http://chunhuawu.com/post/research/movie
Yilmaz, G. 2016. Europeanisation or de-Europeanisation? Media freedom in Turkey (1999-2015). South European society and politics, 21(1), pp.147-161.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13608746.2016.1148102
Zhu, 2018.China’s Next Big Challenge: Big Datahttps://webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/article/artId/2353.html
Shambaugh. D., 2017 china’s propaganda system: institutions process and efficacy. In critical readings on the communist party of china (pp.713-715). BRILL.https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004302488/B9789004302488_026.xml