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<title> The problems of censorship </title>
In society of today there is a lot of news and information that we are exposed to every day through the media. Through television, newspapers and more and more these days: the Internet. A lot of the information contains violence and it can sometimes be difficult even for an adult to see things in perspective. Some of the information is therefore not desirable for children to take part of, and to separate these facts from others in order to protect our children can sometimes be difficult. In this essay I am going to discuss censorship and how it can be used to protect children from violence.
In a modern society of the 21st century censorship is not something that works in a democratic country. People should be able to express their views, both in speech and in writing without fear of being punished. Censorship, even if it starts off just rating television programmes, as in the case with the V-chip in the article "Locking Out Violence" from Time Magazine, July 24th, 1995, by Ginia Bellafante. To censor TV programmes is something that could make Freedom of Speech impossible in the long run and it could also violate democracy in Sweden. One of the constitutional laws in Sweden is the Freedom of Speech and it gives people the freedom to express themselves in any media. To have someone else decide what is appropriate to see on television is totally against the concept of democracy. The government or some other 'superpower' in the society should not regulate the level of all the violence, pornography and other things in the media that we want to protect children from. This kind of censorship is something parents should be able to choose themselves. 
This is already possible when it comes down to the Internet. Programs that can be installed and that delete web- pages that contain undesirable information are already on the market and popular among parents. X-rated web- pages that contain pornography and violence can thereby be made inaccessible for children. This enables the parents to stop worrying whether their seven-year-old son is exposed to violence on the Internet when they are not at home and able to control what he is doing. At least this is something that is possible in the child's own home.
In the article "Locking Out Violence" from Time Magazine, July 24th, 1995, by Ginia Bellafante there is a discussion about the V chip and how it could enable parents to stop violent programmes on television in about the same way as the program for the computer does with the Internet. But who is going to rate the programmes is a problem that then occurs. In Sweden it would be seen as a threat against democracy and the Freedom of Speech if suddenly the government would be rating programmes. Who can decide what is really inappropriate for a child to see but the parents? There are of course advisories, which tell that the programmes contain inappropriate language etc, but parents can not check what their children do all the time. Of course it is quite impossible to totally protect children from violence and other ghastly information that comes through the media. If the children can not access the information at home, it is very likely that they will be able to see that information somewhere else. 
Ultimately it is a question of parental responsibility to what the child is exposed to, and it is the parents' role to inform the children on what is real and what is fiction. It is important that there is a distinction between fictive violence such as action films and the violence that can be seen on the news and in documentaries. A censorship where for example the government rates what programmes are inappropriate is not possible in a democratic country like Sweden. A voluntary censorship on the other hand, should be seen as help for the parents in a society where the number of channels is only increasing and violence is a common thing. It is not to be seen as an easy way out, but as a complement to parental common sense in order to protect the children.
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