Censorship
Surprise, surprise, there is no agreed-upon definition of censorship. From the PBS website: "... contemporary usage offers no agreed-upon definition of the term or when to use it. Indeed, even whether the word itself applies to a given controversy in the arts is often vigorously contested."
The page then goes on to list many definitions of censorship and I thought this one most germane to the current SFPA controversy:
"Censorship is a word of many meanings. In its broadest sense it refers to suppression of information, ideas, or artistic expression by anyone, whether government officials, church authorities, private pressure groups, or speakers, writers, and artists themselves. It may take place at any point in time, whether before an utterance occurs, prior to its widespread circulation, or by punishment of communicators after dissemination of their messages, so as to deter others from like expression. In its narrower, more legalistic sense, censorship means only the prevention by official government action of the circulation of messages already produced. Thus writers who "censor" themselves before putting words on paper, for fear of failing to sell their work, are not engaging in censorship in this narrower sense, nor are those who boycott sponsors of disliked television shows."
--Academic American Encyclopedia
So I think some of the disagreement over the definition of censorship has occurred because some are emphasizing the more narrow, legalistic sense (which is what I was taught to do in library school), and some are emphasizing the broader sense.
The PBS page:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/whodecides/definitions.html
The page then goes on to list many definitions of censorship and I thought this one most germane to the current SFPA controversy:
"Censorship is a word of many meanings. In its broadest sense it refers to suppression of information, ideas, or artistic expression by anyone, whether government officials, church authorities, private pressure groups, or speakers, writers, and artists themselves. It may take place at any point in time, whether before an utterance occurs, prior to its widespread circulation, or by punishment of communicators after dissemination of their messages, so as to deter others from like expression. In its narrower, more legalistic sense, censorship means only the prevention by official government action of the circulation of messages already produced. Thus writers who "censor" themselves before putting words on paper, for fear of failing to sell their work, are not engaging in censorship in this narrower sense, nor are those who boycott sponsors of disliked television shows."
--Academic American Encyclopedia
So I think some of the disagreement over the definition of censorship has occurred because some are emphasizing the more narrow, legalistic sense (which is what I was taught to do in library school), and some are emphasizing the broader sense.
The PBS page:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/whodecides/definitions.html