The Routledge Companion to Freedom of Expression and Censorship offers a thorough exploration of the debates surrounding this contentious topic, considering the importance placed upon it in democratic societies and the reasons frequently proposed for limiting and constraining it.
This volume addresses the various historical, philosophical, political and cultural parameters of censorship and freedom of expression as well as current debates involving technology, journalism and media regulation. Geographically, temporally and culturally diverse accounts of censorship and freedom of expression are discussed through a broad range of perspectives and case studies. This Companion covers core principles and concerns in addition to more specialist and controversial debates, including those surrounding hate speech, holocaust denial, pornography and so-called “cancel culture”. The collection pays particular attention to the role of the media in both facilitating and suppressing freedom of expression.
Comprehensive, original and timely, The Routledge Companion to Freedom of Expression and Censorship is a go-to resource for scholars and advanced students of media, communication and journalism studies.
Introduction: Freedom of Expression in Turbulent Times John Steel and Julian Petley Part One: Concepts and Histories Chapter 1: Freedom of Expression as a Pre-Enlightenment Concept Jordi Pujol Chapter 2: Freedom of Expression, the Enlightenment and the Liberal Tradition Geoff Kemp Chapter 3: Histories of In/tolerance Russell Blackford Chapter 4: Literary influence and legal precedent: Censorship in the Court of the Chancery, 1710-1823 Paul Whickman Chapter 5: The Quest for Truth and Knowledge Kristoffer Ahlström-Vij Chapter 6: Autonomy and Freedom of Expression Eric Barendt Chapter 7: Bentham and Security against misrule Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman Chapter 8: Freedom of Expression in the 20th Century Sue Curry-Jansen, Chapter 9: Philosophies of Censorship and Control Eric Barendt Part Two: Global Perspectives Chapter 10: Freedom of Expression in Latin America in Times of Populism: Between Western Normative Expectations and the Complexities on the Ground Ezequiel Korin and Jairo Lugo-Ocando Chapter 11: Protecting the pandemic press: Exploring press freedom in Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic Bruce Mutsvairo and Kristin Skare Orgeret Chapter 12: Media Freedom in the Arab Region Noha Mellor Chapter 13: Censorship and Freedom of Expression in China Chris Fei Shen and Weiying Shi Chapter 14: Oscillating between ‘speech freedom’ and ‘national interests’ - the contested boundaries of online Freedom of Expression in China Yuan Zeng, and Tongzhou Ran Chapter 15: Freedom of Expression and Democracy in Japan in the 2010s Ryusaku Yamada Chapter 16: Freedom of Expression and the legacy of colonialism: a view from France Imen Neffati Chapter 17: Faith and Toleration in Neoliberal Times: Australia as a Case Study Adam Possamai Part Three: Key Controversies Chapter 18: The Harm in Hate Speech and in Holocaust Denial Raphael Cohen-Almagor Chapter 19: Feminism and pornography Fionna Attwood and Julian Petley Chapter 20: Political Correctness: The Right’s Favourite Bugaboo Valerie Scatamburlo-D’Annibale Chapter 21: Free Speech, Cancel Culture and the ‘war on woke’ John Steel Chapter 22: Academic Freedom and Constrained Expression Thomas Docherty Chapter 23: Breaking News – Media Freedom in Crisis Simon Dawes Chapter 24: P2P speech regulation – Gossip, Reputation, and Norm Policing on Social Media Julie Seaman Chapter 25: Vitriol and voice: Battlegrounds to control employee expression on social media in work Claire Taylor Chapter 26: Emma Briant, “Hack Attacks: How Cyber Intimidation and Conspiracy Theories Drive the Spiral of ‘Secrecy Hacking’” Chapter 27: Violence, impunity and their impact on press freedom Lada Trifonova Price Part Four: Institutions, Technologies and Frameworks Chapter 28: The Regulation of the Online World Julian Petley Chapter 29: Freedom of Expression and Human Rights: interrogating the focus at Strasbourg on political expression under Article 10 ECHR Helen Fenwick Chapter 30: The ECHR Perspective on Whistleblowing as Speech: A case study of ‘national security’ whistleblowing Dimitrios Kagiaros Chapter 31: National Security and the Extension of State Power Paul Lashmar Chapter 32: Marketing Communications and Media: Commercial Speech, Censorship and Control Jonathan Hardy Chapter 33: Regulating the Press in the UK Tom O’Malley Chapter 34: Freedom of the Press in Britain: From Radical to Reactionary... to Reinvigoration? Aaron Ackerley Chapter 35: “Should I stay (on Twitter) or should I go?” Three causes of journalistic self-censorship on Twitter Chrysi Dagoula Chapter 36: All the news that’s fit to report? News values and the ‘free press’ Tony Harcup Index
John Steel is a Research Professor in Journalism in the School of Humanities and Journalism at the University of Derby. He has published in the areas of journalism and media history, journalism and its relationship to and with the public as well as journalism ethics and freedom of the press. Julian Petley is Honorary and Emeritus Professor of Journalism in the Department of Social Sciences, Media and Communications at Brunel University London. He has a particular interest in media regulation of all kinds, and has published widely in this area. He is a member of the editorial boards of the British Journalism Review, Ethical Space and Porn Studies, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of British Cinema and Television.
