Leadership and the Law Reflection 3
- chloeknox30
- Apr 27, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: May 4, 2022
Good Night, and Good Luck directed by George Clooney dives deep into the experiences in media during the wave of Communism. American journalists in the movie struggled to navigate how to report the news while not appearing to defend communism. A “witch hunt” for communists had people scared to even imply they might fall under a communist supporter. This movie plot was based on a real life situation, and emphasized the sensitivity towards such a controversial position. Not wanting to publicly get caught up in a hot topic led to people censoring themselves and news outlets censoring what they allowed to broadcast.
The topic of censoring is a complicated one. The idea of free speech with the mix of media, specifically social media, has continued to be a hot topic. Just as Good Night, and Good Luck portrays, society still today struggles with what “should” and “shouldn’t” be censored. Looking at social media, there are many giant technology corporations navigating algorithms that censor publicly posted statements and images. With a strong push for censorship on online bullying and other such topics from consumers, tech companies have started to impose censorship on their platforms. However, this comes with controversy. Political posts specifically have caused a great deal of talk in the past couple of years. The last presidential election stirred talk about what people believed should be censored and how they thought tech companies were operating fairly or unfairly in regards to censoring different political party messages. According to Pew Research Center the following data was found in regards to how much confidence U.S. adults have in social media companies labeling posts, essentially censoring what should be seen as true or false statements.
Social media platforms have started to implement certain regulations or censoring algorithms due to consumer demand, but there is no law implemented by the US government that says they must do so. Many Americans argue “free speech” through the First Amendment, but the First Amendment only applies to the government and not individual companies. Many misunderstand the restrictions of censoring free speech in regards to the First Amendment. Since these social media platforms are not government run agencies, they do not have to comply with free speech open forums. They are able to regulate based on how they personally feel fit, often decisions driven by consumer’s demands and public opinions. As consumers drive censorship decisions of social media platforms, they also influence how individuals communicate publicly.
As the world transforms with social media making people and their opinions more easily accessible, individuals have to personally decide what they post and not post. Many individuals with large followings on social media try to not be controversial with their public opinions due to bad backlash being frequent. Many publicists have to set limitations on what their public client can talk about which has created informal censorship within American society. If society lashes out on someone making a controversial remark, it can greatly affect how that person is perceived. The topic is interesting and continues to change with how society informally regulates public speech. It's something everyone should be aware of because it affects everyone in todays world.
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*Post written for Leadership and the Law Course*
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