August 1, 2011 Censorship and the Media Sophie Awino Otieno has
published The Effect of Censorship Laws on Media Freedoms. Here
is the abstract. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , The
European Convention on Human rights and the Kenyan constitution
guarantees the media under their provisions, the freedom of
expression and opinion. However, the media can do both good and
damage in terms of the information, images ideas and speech
which it relays to the public if it is left unchecked; hence the
need for censorship. Censorship is the control of speech,
information and images that are going to be viewed by the public
and it is usually exercised by the government or governing
bodies. However, the media has been made an avenue for political
influence whereby the government uses its power in the
appointment of media controlling houses which then serve to
create a form of political influence on the content of the
media. The view that censorship should not be left to the
government alone is one that could lead