The uses and abuses of censorship in developed and developing countries have been under discussion for quite a long time. Although societies claim for freedom of thought and expression, which are indispensable to live peacefully, censorship is sometimes necessary, due to the fact tha its abuse may badly influence the behaviour of a society and may also result in anarchism.
There are different kinds of censorship. The most common ones are: governmental, press and television censorship. The first one is connected with the respect and consideration people should live with. If the citizens of a country do not have the chance of giving voice to their discontent, they feel furstrated and inhibited. Freedom of expression is extremely important inthis case. People must have the opportunity of saying what the think in order to improve the conditions of living, without governmental censorship. Unfortunately, this freedom is sometimes exercised in a wrong way obliging the Government to use its power to censor demonstrators, because they behave violently and irrationally. It is clear, then, that it is highly positive that people have freedom of expression, but on the other hand, that freedom must be used in logical and civilized terms, to improve life in society, otherwise its bad use may lead to a social chaos.
Press censorship is quite common nowadays. The press plays an important part in modern societies. Although there are some exceptions, some journalists and reporters are nowadays mor reliable than most of the politicians. Independent press has the freedom of publishing true facts about everyday governmental activities and decisions. In some cases, if the press did not investigate political and government affairs, people would never know some decisions, which most of the times, are in favour of leaders and against grass roots. It is said that the press is the fourth estate by the influence it has on the society, consequently, it should never be censored by the Governmet.
