{"id":13877,"date":"2023-12-08T12:23:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T01:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=13877"},"modified":"2024-02-05T12:56:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T01:56:19","slug":"the-case-for-a-new-form-of-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/08\/the-case-for-a-new-form-of-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for a new form of censorship\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our\u00a0Publishing Guidelines.\nDear Editor,\nAny proposal to police political advertising is a form of censorship.\u00a0\nI cannot feel comfortable at the idea of establishing new forms of censorship, but I also believe that it must be done.\nIt seems to me that, for truth in political advertising to be effective, it must be timely. For that to happen, all political ads would need to be authorised \u2013 probably by the AEC.\nEven supposing we are able to find a meaningful definition of a \u2018political advertisement\u2019, I seriously doubt we have the means to police the many forms by which such advertising can be delivered in a\u00a0 world of digital social media. Never mind next week, or next year.\nWe have seen disinformation flash into the general consciousness through social media, immediately to have the sources disappear without trace.\nMight the new definition include any opinion expressed in any medium, I wonder?\u00a0\u00a0\nI applauded through the half a century in which we climbed out of the censorship trough of the mid-1900s. But, to change metaphors, we threw the baby out with the bathwater. Once we can no longer agree on standards of decent debate, government censorship of certain public communications again becomes necessary.\nIt won\u2019t be easy, particularly in a climate in which governments don\u2019t attempt \u2018difficult\u2019.\nIain MacPhail\n \nWhere\u2019s the evidence for Israel\u2019s lies?\n...<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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