| Author(s) | Sulaiman J. Al-Shamari |
| Affiliation | Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communications, College of Arts, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | The Notion of Self-Censorship as Seen by Four Egyptian Newspapers |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Arts. Volume 13, No 2. (2001/1421) |
| Abstract | This study attempts to determine the meaning of journalism self-censorship, whether it is positive (self-believe) or negative (external pressures). The study investigates the impact of political, social and religious factors on journalists, self-censorship. In general, there is no direct control over the press in the world, but there is a positive self-censorship in western countries, and negative self-censorship in most of the Third World countries. Egypt is the case chosen for this study because of the existence of anti-government press. Five major questions were asked: 1 - How do journalists agree on the two meanings of self-censorship? 2 - How do journalists see the political, social and religious impact on the function of self-censorship. 3 - Do journalists have their own definition of self-censorship? 4 - How do journalists see the real threat to the freedom of the press? 5 - How do journalists enjoy working in their profession? The results of this study indicate that the Egyptian journalists agree strongly on the positive and negative meanings of self-censorship, and respond negatively to the impact of the political factor that is shaping the function and the notion of self-censorship. But the impact of social and religious factors was analyzed positively. Also, this study listed their definitions of self-censorship as they see it from their experiences |
