Media blackout refers to the
censorship of
news related to a certain topic, for any number of reasons. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the
government or
state. The latter case is controversial, as some regard it as a
human rights violation and repression of
free speech.
Press blackout is a similar phrase, but refers specifically to printed media.
Examples
Some examples of media blackout would include the media bans of southern
Japan during the droppings of the
atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the lack of independent media correspondence from
Iraq during the
Persian Gulf War, and the media blackouts in totalitarian states like China that frequently take place when embarrassing events transpire.
The most commonly known version of a media blackout is the voluntary or legally enforceable (depending on jurisdiction) reporting convention which holds that the name of a
rape or
sexual assault victim (the accuser) is not to be published without that person's consent.
A media blackout was used during the
2005 New York City transit strike to allow for more effective contract negotiation between the two sides of the dispute. Most typically, the more freedom of the press that any particular country has, and the more sensational the story, the more likely it is that at least one news organization will ignore the "blackout" and run the story.
The
2008 abduction of Canadian journalist
Melissa Fung was given a media blackout out to assure her safe return. All media sources obliged making the Canadian public unaware of the fate of Fung.
June 22, 2009 ยท When news came this weekend that New York Times reporter
David Rohde had escaped from his Taliban captors, few knew he had even been kidnapped, because for the seven months he and two Afghan colleagues were in the Taliban's hands, The Times kept that information under wraps. Out of concern for the reporter's safety, The Times asked other major news organizations to do the same;
NPR was among dozens of news outlets that did not report on the kidnapping at the urging of Rohde's colleagues.
Kelly McBride, who teaches
ethics to journalists at the
Poynter Institute, says she was "really astounded" by the media blackout. "I find it a little disturbing, because it makes me wonder what else 40 international news organizations have agreed not to tell the public," she tells NPR's
Melissa Block. McBride says the blackout could hurt the credibility of news organizations. "I don't think we do ourselves any favors long term for our credibility when we have a total news blackout on something that's clearly of interest to the public," she says.
Some media critics have questioned whether the 2000
Wichita Massacre received little to no coverage in the mainstream media due to
political correctness regarding the race of the perpetrators and the victims. Such critics also cite the 2007
Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in
Knoxville, Tennessee.
In football
In
football, a press or media blackout is also referred to as a
silenzio stampa (literally
press silence) from the corresponding
Italian phrase. It specifically refers to when a football club or national team and the players refuse to give interviews or in any other way cooperate with the press, often during important tournaments, or when the club feels that the media does not depict the club and their activities in an objective way. The phrase
silenzio stampa was born during the
1982 FIFA World Cup, when the
Italian team created a news blackout due to rumors and untrue stories circulating in the press.
See also
