Sara&Sheikha's Answers to censorship

1)   In summary, one of the US soldiers sent the images of other US soldiers posing with dead afghan insurgents to news agencies.  The photos were very controversial, even media analysts didn’t agree on whether it was the right thing to publish the images.  The type of censorship it addresses is the act to censor violent and graphically natural pictures that reflect a bad image of the US soldiers to their people. The different positions presented are that, on one hand, media agencies found that it was necessary - as the united states are big on freedom of speech – that the public are aware of the unethical acts of the US soldier and the occurring war. Of normality, the US defense department- the pentagon, found that it would “cause needless casualties” and would ruin the reputation of the US soldiers.

2)   As disturbing as the photographs may be, it is of the public’s right that they are aware of the reckless behavior of these soldiers, to understand what is happening exactly behind the scenes and therefore the people can choose their stand on the issue. The USA have the capability to vote for whether or not their citizens would like their soldiers to carry on this war. If they are aware of what is going on, they could put a stop to the war.

3)   Yes, free speech is a human right because every person is responsible for what they say and do. In the regards to the United States, the pentagon filter what and determine what information is available to the public. How these determinations are made? It all depends on the image of what is being presented gives to the USA. Since the USA is very big on freedom of speech, media agencies did not take into consideration what the pentagon had to say therefore went on and published the photographs.

4)   Censorship is such a controversial issue because sometimes it is good to censor something that may protect the people from the negative influence, but in the other hand, sometimes censoring does limit a person from knowing what they should and have the right to know which makes this issue even more controversial.