censorship

I've censored the Heelers Diaries a few times.
Once when I'd written a piece in praise of former Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff.
The article suggested that Islamist politicians Nahwaz Shariff and Imran Khan had most to gain from the murder of Benazir Bhutto and were most probably complicit with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in killing her.
The article also suggested that President Barack Obama's pressure to release and reinstate Pakistan's Supreme Court Judge Chowdry was misplaced as I considered Chowdry an agent for Al Qaeda who had consistently released Al Qaeda operatives after the Pakistani military had captured them.
In the end, I pulled the article because I just wasn't absolutely sure about my endorsement of Musharaff.
There seemed some possibility that Al Qaeda elements within Pakistan's own security forces had killed Benazir.
So I censored the whole thing.
I also censored a ranting article on the Sudan but this later reappeared in a modestly toned down version.
The only other such self censorship on this blog came when I first wrote about Irish woman Monica Leech, her contract with a government Minister for public relations services, her libel case and her subsequent aggrandisement at the expense of Independent Newspapers to the tune of 1.87 million quid.
I noted in that article that an anonymous caller had suggested on RTE radio that Monica Leech received her well paid sinecure from the Minister in return for blow jobs.
In light of the court's decision to give Leech nearly two million quid when Independent Newspapers merely alluded to her arrangements and travels with the Minister, in my view committing no libel or slander whatsoever but actually contributing very positively to the public's awareness of how our government was conducting itself, I felt wary of mentioning the RTE call and or Monica Leech in any context.
RTE itself had paid Monica Leech yet more hundreds of thousands in compensation for that call without any court appearance taking place.
The caller was never identified.
After self censoring with regard to Monica Leech I became somewhat weary of censorship in general.
The huge court award in Monica Leech's favour has left most journalists unsure of what they can say.
This is the best way for our corrupt kleptocratic government to triumph.
If we don't know what we can say, most of us end up saying nothing.
I think it's time to start saying something again.