Systematic Review of the Impact of Media Censorship on Governance and Development in a Society

Abstract

The basic role of the media is to inform, entertain and educate society. In some parts of the world, large segments of the population are no longer receiving unbiased news and information. This is because the media has fallen prey to more nuanced efforts to throttle their independence.This paper is a report of a systematic review range of quantitative and qualitative studies to assess the impact of media censorship on governance and development, to create an understanding of the media roles in a modern society.The paper provides an understanding of the different roles of media; media censorship patterns and strategies; who censors media, as well as the impact of media censorship on governance and development. The paper further identifies that media censorship must be understood within the context of nations as each civilization has special political, social, and religious traditions. While there are situations like war, where restricting the flow of information between the government and the people through the media might be warranted, free flow of information in the media is critical for the functioning of every contemporary political system. The paper adds to the understanding that freedom of media cannot be exercised in the complete absence of some level of censorship. With the growing age of internet use where anyone can report, control measures to avoid extreme reactions like anarchy are needed. This paper highlights that there is need for further research to investigate how power, oppression and privilege are products of certain forms of communication throughout society; and that exploration of control of language to perpetuate power imbalances, and the role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression is needed.