Government Censorship of the Media

     In the United States of America, the 1st Amendment gives every US citizen the freedom of speech, religion, peaceful assembly, protest, and press. Freedom of press means that a person or organization has the right to publish whatever they wish. While this is one of the great perks of being an American, this is not a common courtesy in the rest of the world.
     Currently, Hong Kong is protesting the Chinese government in an effort to establish a democracy in the city. Although Hong Kong gained independence from Britain in 1997, it is still ultimately under the control of the Chinese government. According to BBC, the Chinese government can veto any changes to Hong Kong's structure or political system. Hong Kong has tried to lead a democracy movement, however it has been suppressed by the Chinese government, being a Communist country. A large ally to protests and movements in the last few decades has been social media. This allows the organizers an easy and large platform to advertise their goals. In this effort, however, the Chinese government has gone to great lengths to silence the voices of the demonstrators by censoring television stations, Twitter accounts, and various other news outlets.
     In this case, the media in the Chinese region is a puppet for the government. The US media has had limited coverage and/or information on the movement and the handling of the crowds by the authorities due to the intervention of the Chinese government. This seems to be a common occurrence in Communist and Dictatorial systems of government. The media has no power to act as a watchdog or even to report both sides of a story. They may only report the side of the story that portrays the group in power in a positive light. Here is a quote that the Chinese government may want to ponder over: "We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we are sure, stifling it would still be an evil." - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859