With another gun rampage dominating the mass media, calls have been renewed for censorship of movies and videos depicting violence, with the claim that there is a link between violent images and subsequent anti-social behaviour.
Censorship of the media is nothing new, and in fact the news media — through television, radio and newspapers — are censored already. It's the censorship we usually don't hear about, unless we know the other side of the story.
Green Left Weekly attempts to give you this other side. There is no doubt whose side the establishment media are on when it comes to an industrial dispute. There is no doubt that information about profits to be gained from oil in the Timor Gap is what hits the news stands, rarely the continuing struggle of the East Timorese people in their fight for self-determination. The mainstream press has enormous power over information, and this power is wielded very consciously.
While the establishment media remain firmly on the side of big business, Green Left Weekly represents the interests of ordinary people working people fighting for better wages and conditions, women demanding equality, indigenous struggles for land rights and the ongoing battle for democracy and justice in the Asia Pacific region.
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