Authoritarian theory describe that all forms of communications are within the control of the governing elite or authorities or influential officials.
Authoritarians are necessary to manage the media to protect and prevent the people from the general threats through any form communication (information or news). The press is a mechanism to enhance the ruler’s authority in the country rather than any threats. The authorities have all rights to permit any media and control it by providing authorization to the media and make certain censorship.
In case any media violate the government policies against license, then the authority possess all freedom to cancel the license and revoke it. The state has all right to restrict any sensitive issues from press to maintain peace and security in the nation.
Censorship:It is a suppression of any communication which may consider as destructive to the people, King, government and its nation. Especially these censorship methods are much familiar in press which is in opposition to the freedom of speech and liberation of expression. In some other cases, the censorship helps to secure the rulers and administration from sensitive issues.
- Political censor
- Moral censor
- Religious censor
- Corporate censor
- Military censor
Examples of Authoritarian theory:
For right Nikolai Yezhov, standing near Stalin was removed from this photograph after he shot dead in 1940. These types of censors are common during Stalin’s reign.
- Here, Journalist or any media persons should not possess any rights to comment, discriminate or stand against the government. Sometimes, an authority gives considerable freedom to minority thoughts and cultural issues to promote them in case it does not make any threats to authority or ruler.
- King – Is the authority, who possess all rights to control the communication and nobody can question against the king.“The French king Louis XIV was concentrated in his person parliamentary, law making and judicial power. He was the authority of Supreme Court as well as he can condemn a men to death penalty without any rights appeal”.
- Dictatorship – During the World War II, Mussolini and Hitler are the two major authorities who controlled the press in Germany and Italy. Press was within the control of the government and No press can’t question against or publish contrary to these two dictators.
- Few countries blocked wiki leaks website from its country to maintain the internal privacy because the website of wiki leaks are not ready to compromise with government censorship and realizing classified documents against the government.
