This article discusses the Student union at City of London University, which is known for its journalism school, vote to ban the newspapers in a motion titled "opposing fascism and social divisiveness in the UK Media" i.e. The Sun, The Daily Mail, and The Express. According to the writer of the article this motion is perceived as "embarassing". Less than 200 of the university’s 19,500 student population attended the meeting where the motion was passed to ban the newspapers “in their current form”. The motion added that the ban could be extended to other media organisations with the Sun, Daily Mail and Express titles “merely used as high-profile examples”.According to Index on Censorship chief executive, Jodie Ginsberg, the union should not be trying to dictate what students could read. “People should be free to choose what they read. Rather than banning things, we should be encouraging people to voice their objections to views and opinions they don’t like.
- In January, online publication Spiked released its latest free speech rankings for universities, finding that 90% of institutions were carrying out some form of censorship, up from 80% a year earlier.
- A survey in April found that almost two-thirds of UK students back the National Union of Students’ no platforming policy, which covers speakers from six groups including the BNP and Al-Muhajiroun, but allows individual unions to choose which speakers to bar.
As much as I agree with the students view on opposing fascism and social divisiveness in the UK I believe that banning these newspapers won't have the impact they are looking for, and that if one wants to boycott a newspaper they should do it individually. By banning newspapers the purpose of freedom of speech is breached, which is the purpose of journalism whether one agrees or not. It will also prevent readers from forming opinions and coming into contact with different views, which limits one's consciousness.
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