How do you define censorship?

[netmouse]

Someone commented in another journal the idea that censorship is something only governments can do.

I had defined it as something people with power do to people (publications, performances, etc) they have power over.

ETA: by power I meant institutionally-based authority, not merely physical force. "Institution" can include social institutions, such as clubs, churches, or families.

How do you define censorship?

Comments

[lizdmg.livejournal.com]

I believe it's something the government can do. I remember having discussions about that in journalism classes. As mentioned above, if the government isn't stopping you, then who has that power? If one publisher or theatre refuses to present certain works, the party wanting it presented has the right to have it put on somewhere else. Or to create his or her own forum for it. If it's being censored, then the government's saying you don't have the right to present that.

Having put in my two cents, I'll now look at the definition linked above.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

If your kid wanted to put on a play for his class, and the principal said that he couldn't because the play supported socialist notions, something the principal personally abhorred, would that be censorship?

Does that change based on whether that's a public (government-sponsored) school or a private one?