At this point, we understand that a discrepancy lies between the desires of proponents and opponents of censorship. We may now ask, what will happen if this debate continues? How could this affect American television, radio, newspapers, and the overall information obtained by citizens? Let's examine the possibilities:

CASE A:

Concerned PTA members, Christian coalitions, and conservative politicians win! Media censors are free to filter any information deemed inappropriate by a new government agency, formed purely to protect all Americans from pornographic, violent, or unusual material. Temporarily, a Leave it to Beaver optimism emerges, crime rates diminish, and the country experiences a nearly tangible upsurge of family values. Without anyone taking much heed, this governing agency meant to censor harmful information begins to take more liberties, removing books with critical opinion from local libraries, and quelling any sense of newness and creativity in music, art, television... It seems fairly 1984, right? Well, any sort of absolute power corrupts absolutely. Unrestricted, censorship could be very powerful, wielding a great amount of control over the opinions and behaviors of recipients of information. Case A does not seem to have a very bright outlook.

CASE B:

Straying away from the Big Brother aspect of total government control over media, information-hungry Americans gain total access to information. The government loses all control over news sources, television, and the Internet. Unregulated, news broadcasts can say whatever they please, even if it would cause chaos, expose national secrets, or was completely fabricated. A child could switch on the television and see explicitly sexual images or one person violently strangling another on any channel. In turn, this lack of control over media outlets could lead to unhappy parents, disturbed children, and/or undermined authority figures.

As neither situation seems too appealing, it is clear that a balance falling somewhere between total government control and unregulated media needs to be found.