# Censorship is the enemy of democracy and censors are evil because of it **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 10, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588 "2005-10-10T16:20:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588/21 "2005-10-11T15:08:15Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > As for the OP, I agree that censorship is (in most instances) wrong, but that it is a necessary evil in some cases. However, I disagree with **Evil Captor** ’s contention that preventing the photographing of caskets is a cheap propaganda ploy. Quite the opposite, I believe that the act of photographing caskets is itself a cheap propaganda ploy, as well as tacky and ghoulish. I have no idea why you think bringing the cost of war home through an image of caskets is a cheap propoganda ploy. I think it’s a fair, decent, reasonable and effective technique. Whaddya want, we should just go with a dry recital of casualty figures? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588/22 "2005-10-11T15:19:22Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > So you make no distinction between an image of the exterior of a coffin, and an image of a mutilated body. Amazing, indeed. You are clearly pschologically constituted very different from me, and I suspect, most people. > > BTW, I didn’t advocate censoring the images of war’s carnage outright, but simply putting up a warning so parents and family would know not to look. Also, setting it up so small children will not be given nightmares works for me too. > > What would your solution be? There’s certainly a distinction, and a mutilated body would be more disturbing than a coffin, but both will still upset some people. As for a solution, I don’t have one, because I don’t see military censorship of combat zones as a problem. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588/23 "2005-10-11T15:21:12Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > Quite the opposite, I believe that the act of photographing caskets is itself a cheap propaganda ploy, as well as tacky and ghoulish. :rolleyes: Do you know the least little thing about the journalistic concept of “news value”? Similar criticisms were levied at the American “muckraker” journalists of the early 20th Century ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckrakers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckrakers)), for having the bad taste to call public attention to such unpleasant things as exploited labor and unsanitary food-production practices. But they were doing exactly what responsible journalists are always supposed to do, the things that make a free press of such immense practical value to a free society. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588/24 "2005-10-11T17:17:22Z")
So, is jailing reporters who publish “secret” information censorship? Are reporters who publish secret information traitors? What about government officials who leak secret information? Are they traitors? Should they go to jail? Is sending them to jail censorship? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588/25 "2005-10-11T17:23:09Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > So, is jailing reporters who publish “secret” information censorship? No . . . provided it’s done after the fact. But prior restraint on publication of the information is censorship. See the Pentagon Papers case. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon\_papers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_papers) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/censorship-is-the-enemy-of-democracy-and-censors-are-evil-because-of-it/325588.md?page=1)