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

[cannibal.livejournal.com]

I sort of agree... although it may depend on their role. If an editor decides to self-censor, is he really a censor in the same way as a political commisar is?

[sethb.livejournal.com]

Deciding what you're going to say (or write, or post) isn't censorship (unless it's done due to external pressure, in which case that external pressure might be censorship).