Fahrenheit 451 and Censorship

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Fahrenheit 451 and Censorship
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Introduction

• The futuristic world of Fahrenheit 451 is one
  where all media is censored and books are burned.
  It might seem like science fiction, but
  censorship is very real. Not only is history
  riddled with examples of censorship, but it
  continues to this day.

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Task

• Your group is to research censorship in your
  assigned time period and area.
• While going through the assigned readings, you
  are to consider the following questions
• What is censorship?
• What are the different types of censorship?
• Who is responsible for this censorship and
  who/what benefits from it? Who suffers?
• Why is censorship used in this situation? What
  purpose does it serve?
• How do those being censored respond?

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Task

• You will summarize the information from your
  research and present the answers to these
  questions in class using visuals like PowerPoint,
  posters, film, and more. Be creative!

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Saudi Arabia

• Your group will research current Saudi Arabian
  censorship issues. You will use the following
  resources for your presentation
• http//www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article10766
  -- Reporters Without Borders report on internet
  censorship in Saudi Arabia
• http//www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/saudI_06/saudi_0
  6.html -- Committee to Protect Journalists report
  on press censorship
• http//www.cpj.org/attacks04/mideast04/saudi.html
  -- Report on censorship
• http//www.al-bab.com/media/docs/saudi.htm --
  List of censorship rules for Internet use in
  Saudi Arabia
• http//anhri.net/en/reports/net2004/saudi.shtml
  -- Commentary on Saudi internet banning and
  blocking
• http//www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page251
  country7265year2007 -- Saudi Arabia country
  report from Freedom House

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Goals

• Ultimately, at the end of the assignment, you
  will be able to identify censorship, understand
  why it happens, why it is used, and why it would
  be a problem in a free society.

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Requirements

• 1. Defining the problem
• Includes a visual of the affected area.
• Clear explanation of the problem is given.
• Specific examples used to clarify the problem.
• Definition of censorship provided that
  specifically relates to area being addressed
• Discussion of who is responsible for this
  censorship.
• Presents theory explaining the reasons why this
  type of censorship occurred/is occurring (i.e.,
  who benefits?).
• Discussion of who is impacted and the response of
  impacted group(s).
• Explains whether the situation was resolved. If
  so, how?

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Requirements

• 2. Connections
• Discussion of how this example of censorship is
  related to our current world and/or the world
  described in Fahrenheit.
• 3. Overall quality of presentation
• Students are prepared and demonstrate appropriate
  level of seriousness.
• Handouts are neat and well planned.
• Relatively few grammatical errors in handouts
  and/or powerpoint presentation.
• Obvious effort put into project.
• Required little (if any) teacher input to ensure
  comprehensiveness of presentation as a learning
  tool for other students.